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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956732">Laurel Wreaths &amp; Animal Teeth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_Of_Space_92/pseuds/Mistress_Of_Space_92'>Mistress_Of_Space_92</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DreamSMP, DreamSMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Just tommy and tubbo for now, and my piglin bby oc, but for right now i'm focusing on the MOTHERFUCKIN FOUND FAMILY SHIT, reader is 200 percent gonna be the dsmp kids mom either now or later, this WILL be a techno and reader fic LATER, this is a slow af burn so if y'all are looking for techno right now you're gonna be disappointed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:55:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>31,500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956732</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistress_Of_Space_92/pseuds/Mistress_Of_Space_92</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You (now with the handle 'Reader') have woken up in a Minecraft like world with no memory how you got there. There's nothing for you to do except adapt and keep going. But you're unaware of your place in this world, or the characters that lurk there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>DSMP/Reader, Technoblade/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>509</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>630</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Waking Up New</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was raining when you woke up. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And you…. were either in a coma and this was your brain’s way of making sure you didn’t go insane or maybe you were already dead and this was your afterlife?? You’re not sure. But either way you guess things could be worse??</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Because you were currently in Minecraft? Like… the block game you played when you were… alive? Awake? Conscious? Before this. You played it before you got to here and now. Wherever and whenever that was. But regardless. You were here in the game now. Or at least somewhere uncannily like it. For better or worse. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The world wasn’t a perfect replica of Minecraft, it was softer than that. But the similarities were so eerily similar that there was no way this wasn’t Minecraft. Things for the most part WERE blocky, just not harshly so like in the real game. Lots of stuff had soft edges and the animals and villagers especially had minimal ‘blockness’ to them. But it was still enough where you could look at them and think ‘minecraft’.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And speaking of, you weren’t your original game skin actually, nor were you blocky. You’d actually looked into some water after you first ‘woke up’ and saw you looked like you had when you were alive/awake. After finding a village you discovered you were taller than the villagers you’d encountered by a little bit. You even had to crouch to get inside buildings through the two block high doors.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But the only real startling difference from this ‘skin’ and how you’d looked before waking up here was your eyes, ears, nails, and teeth…</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Your teeth and nails were… noticeably sharper. Like sharper than a person’s should be. And your ears had a point to them, like elf ears, that they didn’t before. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And your eyes… lord, your eyes. They were an unusual WHITE. No pupils or irises in sight. Not even any veins like normal eyes have. Just the eerie glowing white. You didn’t really like them, looking at them made you feel weird, like you weren’t looking into your own eyes anymore. So you avoided it.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But aside from the absolute freakout you had when you ‘woke up’ or whatever you think you handled whatever this nonsense was with a decent amount of grace.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Meaning you only screamed loud enough to scare away all the birds in a hundred block radius the first few times you saw any hostile mobs. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Which turned out to be sorta pointless because… none of them were bothering you. At first you thought they had somehow not seen you so… you stupidly inched closer. But… nothing! They could DEFINITELY see you, confirmed by the mini heart attack you had when a skeleton you were walking up behind turned around when it heard you step on some overgrown grass.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But.. that was it. It saw you and then just went about its business. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Beyond confused you timidly tried to see if any other mobs were unbothered by you. Starting with zombies since they were slow moving, and then going on to more dangerous ones like creepers and endermen. And each mob you encountered did the same thing the skeleton had. Just saw you then went back to loitering around like they did every night you guessed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Well that had been a MASSIVE weight off your shoulders. Though you continued to have mini heart attacks every time something new happened to you. Which was embarrassing to say the least since you’re not exactly a stranger to Minecraft. You’d played it a LOT when you were younger, but then you’d stopped for a number of years because adult life got in the way. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Though recently, like maybe a few months before you ended up here, you’d gotten back into it. And boy a lot had changed in the game! There were bees, ‘Illagers’, different kinds of zombies and skeletons, and so much more. It was so much fun re-learning about your favorite game. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And you only stumbled back a little when you somehow managed to open your ‘inventory’ thing. Which was really just this weird floating pop up screen you could pull stuff out of and put stuff into. It was hard to explain but after a while you got the hang of it. Also at some point you realized you had an endless inventory? ‘Creative Mode’ but… you can still mine and stuff. Which you don’t think is possible in real Minecraft Creative Mode. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Maybe they changed it in the updates?” you reasoned with yourself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You honestly have no idea but you’re going with the flow regardless. There’s nothing else you CAN do. You just… play the game peacefully. The first day you had your freakout and then maybe 20 minutes before sunset you cobbled together a dirt hut and crafted a bed before going to sleep. After that you went on gathering supplies and stuff. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You essentially wandered around aimlessly just collecting supplies and stuff until one day you didn’t feel like exploring and you boredly opened your inventory and actually started looking at it. You’d fiddled with it (just getting it to pop up and close and put stuff in it/take stuff out) when you first ended up here but for the most part you’d avoided it.. it was weird having a screen just appear right in front of you out of nowhere.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But now you just shrugged it off as another thing in this place you’d need to get used to. So you began messing with the buttons and in doing so you.. opened up the Creative Inventory…</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You stared at it before silently sitting on a nearby grass block and face palming. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I never needed to gather any supplies… I had an endless supply here the whole time.” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You’d sat there feeling like a total dumbass for a while. But once you stopped feeling so stupid you got up and just… kept going. There was literally nothing else here for you to do. Though you supposed you could keep gathering resources anyways, for something to do you guessed..</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But a couple days later you found a village! You found it after just walking across a huge valley and petting some pigs. You caught sight of a roof first and after cresting over a hilltop you saw the messy but cozy little village.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You think this type is called a ‘plains village’? Or at least you’re like 90% sure. It’s a village in a plains biome so you’re probably right. You never really focused on what the different biomes were called and you knew there were a LOT. Like hills and plains and snowy places and stuff. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Either way this one was super pretty, with flowers everywhere.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>After nearly falling off the steep edge of a hill and having to wade across a river you got to the village. It was cute, not huge and not small. From where you were standing you could see maybe 12 houses? </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You also noticed… the village was poorly set up. Some houses’ doors were obstructed by trees or stacks of hay bales, there were sheep everywhere, the walkways were overgrown with tall grass, and there was a shallow river going right through the middle of the village. With a sigh you decided you could spruce the village up. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not like I’ve got anything better to do..” you said before seeing it was sunset. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Deciding you’d done enough for the day you went to find a house you could stay in, quickly putting your bed down and tucking yourself in. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You’d start your pet project tomorrow.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Working Blur</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>With nothing else to keep your attention you find a village and start improving it, discovering more about yourself and abilities as you do.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Like every night of sleep here you woke up after what felt like no time at all. But at least you felt rested instead of tired still. Either way, it was time to get up and have some food before fixing up this village. Which was in dire need of it from what you saw the day before.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After eating some bread you got to work scoping out the village, jotting down in a book (with a damn QUILL) what problems needed to be fixed first and which could come later. Once that was done you started evening out the land so it wasn’t one hill after another with a ton of dark spots. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Figuring out how to just make blocks and items disappear was weird. And seeing it happen in real life time was even weirder. You just put your hand on a block or anything not alive and with a twitch of your fingers the item just… ceased to be. All you got was a quick breaking sound followed by a particle effect that lasted a half a second, then nothing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You got used to it. You’d have to, that’s just what humans do. Adapt.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmm.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d been so focused on terraforming that you’d gotten a little spooked when you suddenly heard a voice behind you. After turning around you saw some villagers watching you. You blinked and after a couple seconds of silence you said,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They just watched you and gave murmurs that didn’t sound like anything negative, and you didn’t wanna make things awkward so you just went back to doing what you were before. You chalked it up to them being curious about the new person in their village changing stuff. So you gave them a smile before getting back to work. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They stayed and watched you for a bit longer before one by one leaving to do whatever it was they’d been doing before coming to scope out what you were up to.  You figured they were just checking to see if you were dangerous or not. Which was understandable so you paid them little mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You got lost in the zone after that, just working diligently to smooth out the land and fill in parts of the river so it wasn’t bisecting the village and making it hard to get from one side to the other. Hours passed without you realizing, you didn’t have a hunger bar so no growling stomach to snap you back into focus either.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the back of your mind you noticed the sun had set because you had to pull out some torches to make seeing easier. But aside from that you were oblivious to the world around you. At least you had been until the sound of pained grunts made you look up from what you were doing for the first time in nearly 10 solid hours.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Your eyes widened when you saw a villager cornered between some hay bales and the side of a house, getting attacked by a zombie. Like in the game his whole body sorta flashed a red tint to show he was taking damage. You didn’t even really think before you reacted, you just saw someone getting hurt so you yelled loudly,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“HEY!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>To your surprise the zombie halted and turned to look at you. But then seemed to disregard you and started to turn back to its violent task, intent to ignore your call and you felt just enough outrage to start rushing over, yelling at the undead as you did. This caught both zombie and villager’s attention. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The villager edged back as you came over and started smacking the zombie back, making him grunt and stumble slowly backwards. After you dealt him a couple hearts damage he turned and shuffled away from you both. With you hurling colorful commentary at him as he slowly feld. Once he was gone you turned to the blinking villager and put your hands on your hips and scolded him,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing?? It’s night time! Get inside and go to bed!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The villager looked alarmed as he rushed to hop up the short steps to the house he’d previously been wedged against, hurrying inside and slamming the door closed behind him. You sighed, a little annoyed with how hard your heart was beating from the adrenaline of having to essentially break up an attack. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With one last huff you turned and headed back to your previous task. But half way there you stopped and glanced around the village before sighing again and deciding it wouldn’t hurt to check to make sure all the other villagers were safe inside right now. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This would become a routine for you, making sure the villagers were safe indoors after sunset.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Days turned into weeks and before you knew it you’d terraformed the land the village was on into a much more manageable and easy to navigate space. You’d even started upgrading the villager’s houses and stuff. You did this mostly because all their houses were like 3x3 inside and looked beyond cramped. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Also you disliked cobblestone when used in the construction of Minecraft houses. It just looked ugly in your opinion and stone looks way better. So you used that and different colored terracotta and pretty lamps instead of plain torches in some spots. It all gave the village a more cozy vibe you think. But either way your construction drew the villagers’ attention once more.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The villager whose house you started with hadn’t sounded happy when you built up and began to break the roof. He’d grunted and walked around watching you but stepped back when you called down and told him you were fixing the house and making it stronger and bigger for him. He hadn’t seemed fully convinced but he didn’t sound as upset so you continued.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was when you were putting on the roof that you discovered that you didn’t take fall damage…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d stepped back to put the top point of the roof in place and miscalculated how much roof was left to stand on behind you and ended up slipping off. You barely had time to register what was happening, much less scream, before you were just… standing on the ground. You looked up and saw the unfinished underside of the roof’s edge…. a good 15 feet up in the air above you…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You looked down and mentally checked yourself over and you were fine? Not a scratch or ache anywhere in your legs. Which should be the bare minimum someone should have after falling off of a nearly 2 story roof. But you were perfectly okay, and honestly… sorta curious. And at this point you were more curious than cautious so you actually went back to the edge of the roof and just.. jumped off. You were incredibly lucky the first safe fall hadn’t been a fluke..</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You landed nice and soft again this time. Only now you were able to watch what happened as you fell since you were looking down and not up (or having your brain lag in fear). You fell normally at first but once you got about 3 feet from the ground you slowed before landing about as hard as if you’d taken one step downward. The wind rushed past you and fluttered your clothes but aside from that you were unaffected by the high fall.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well…. I suppose that’s one less thing to worry about?” you sort of stated with a questioning tone because honestly you’re just trying to roll with the punches at this point.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You noticed there were only TWO profession blocks in the whole village, a farmer compositer and the weaponsmith’s grindstone. Which wasn’t great village wise you were sure. So you started to just… add professions to pre-existing houses. Like one house you converted into a two story with a balcony and added a library and lectern to it before bringing a villager over and showing them. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Honestly you weren’t totally sure they would be interested but to your delight their clothes changed after they were surrounded by some green sparkles, signalling they’d taken up the role of ‘Librarian’! You clapped happily and said this was great, to which the villager responded with a happy sound. You left them to their studies and went to add more job site blocks!</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re not sure how much time passed since you’d found this village. But you can say it definitely looked different these days, in a good way. You’d renovated (or outright remodeled) all the homes and now each villager had a job. Well, except for one who, for whatever reason, didn’t want any of the jobs. You’d tried showing him each option and he just gave unhappy grunts for each one. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Finally you’d asked if he wanted a job and he gave a negative ‘hrm’. So you’d figured it was his choice at the end of the day so you shrugged and got rid of the career blocks and told him that was okay. You told him his job could be to Not have a job! And he seemed perfectly content with that so you just left his home a regular one and went about your day. So really, a happy ending for everyone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And once the village was all set looking nice and prosperous you finally stopped and realized… you’d never made yourself a house? Though to be fair you’d sort of hyper focused on building up the village and all the villager’s professional skills so you’d not had much time to think about yourself. And now that you think about it.. you’re not sure when the last time you ate or slept was.. Like, at all! Which would be concerning if you were starving or about to pass out but you mostly felt normal? You could eat or go for a nap but you could also just.. not? And you’d be okay you think.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This is all super weird.. I need to go to sleep I think…” you sort of mumbled to yourself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You looked around and noted the time of day, which meant no sleep yet. Then you surveyed the large village and noticed a nice hill one of the four main crossroad paths in the village was leading towards. It was too far away for any more villager houses so you’d left it alone in your building spree. But now that you were walking around it you saw it would be a great spot for a place of your own! All you had to do was remove a couple trees, widen the top layer of dirt and move the path a little to the left and you’d be golden.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But you were pretty much sick of looking at oak logs, grey stone bricks, and terracotta so you decided to forgo using them in whatever design you settled on for your house. Instead you open your ‘expanded’ inventory of all the building blocks and began looking through them idly, searching for something nice looking that wasn’t too bland or contrary too flashy. Like sure a diamond block house SOUNDS cool and also very pretty but actually making a house out of diamond blocks seems like it’s just asking for trouble.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You couldn’t help the chuckle you let out at the thought of someone actually building a house of diamond then going mining or whatever and coming back to their whole house being gone save for their bed. But you pushed those silly thoughts away and finally ended up choosing some quartz stone for now. It was a good looking stone, nice and smooth. As you looked through the other blocks you thought about what your house should look like. You didn’t want to build any more of the standard villager houses at this point, you were sorta burnt out on that. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Vaguely you recalled a handful of house and building tutorials you’d watched on youtube. But honestly it's been such a long time since you watched them that you really only remembered the final products. Although you reason that that shouldn’t stop you from trying anyways! Because what’s the worst that will happen? It’ll look ugly? Then you can just take it down and try try again! You’d start building slow and see what you liked and what looked cool. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So with that decided you grabbed one of the quartz blocks and some stairs to match then got to work on your new house.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Sacred Status</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You finish your house and come to a startling realization about the villagers. <br/>And also...maybe discover another part of yourself that isn't normal...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>You’re not exactly sure when your plans for a house shifted from ‘maybe a two story house’ into ‘some kinda roman temple/shrine type building’ instead. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Probably after the third time you had to tear down what you were building because it just didn’t look right. You’d initially not been able to go anywhere with the white quartz (you’d made a base but it looked stupid so you’d tossed it) so you’d switched it with a birch wood. That was where the problems started. First you’d tried your hand at making a cute little cottagecore house, but it just didn’t look cute to you and instead came out kinda frumpy? So you scrapped it, even though it pained you. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hours wasted.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then you tried making another house, this one taller and with dark wood. But it ended up looking like some kind of Viking home, no matter how much you tweaked it, which totally clashed with the vibrant floral scenery around you. It would work better in a snowy biome. So you’d scrapped that one too, none too happy either.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do I suck?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then you’d tried your hand at making a cute mushroom house! But…. it was awful. No matter what you did it just didn’t look right?? You tried making the stem ‘natural’ like it would look in minecraft but then it looked too artificial to you. Then you tried making it look more normal but then it just ended up looking wonky. Long story short.. you hated it. You scrapped it, maybe a little more angry than the previous two times. That was when you’d gone back to the white quartz blocks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And you started with a huge square, then that sorta morphed into a circle. Or as ‘circular’ as this world’s building blocks could get. Then it just sorta.. went from there? Before you knew it you had a circular white temple/shrine with a domed and tiered ceiling and four tall stained glass windows with star and sky designs. You’d gotten into the construction as it had begun to be more fun. You’d even hung lanterns by chains from the ceiling in symmetrical points and it gave the whole place a nice vibe you think. Especially when it started raining outside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Once it was all done to your satisfaction you just sat in the middle of the quartz floor and gazed up at the gently swaying lanterns. You’re glad you’d ended up with this place, it looks pretty and has a calm vibe you can resonate with. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It would be dawn soon so you decided since you were done you’d go to bed since you had nothing else to do at the moment. Or well that had been the plan until you placed down your bed and couldn’t help but notice how utterly ridiculous a single bed in the corner of this huge temple looked. It actually made you snort before deciding then and there you needed a bed that somewhat matched the temple aesthetic you guessed you were going for now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You ended up making this huge canopy bed with curtains and a platform you had to walk up a step to get to the three beds you’d put on it to look right. Under normal circumstances you’d not like such an overly lavish bed but it certainly fit the almost regal aesthetic your new temple home had. Which was just fine you supposed, it’s not like you were opposed to it. Just not what you’d planned to do from the get go.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Only problem now was.. the place still looked weirdly empty of life. Like one of those barren ‘minimalism’ nightmare homes rich people get off to. So you went through the inventory and started looking for stuff to decorate with. On the wall to the left of the entrance you set up an area for a brewing stand and cauldron as well as an ender chest, mostly just because it looked cool with the purple particles. You also hung up some item frames on the wall by the quartz counters you set up and picked out a bunch of pretty colored potions to hang in them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then on the opposite wall you made a little library with an alcove in the middle for an enchantment table. With a lantern on top of the bookshelf next to the crafting table and clay pots of flowers on the uppermost bookshelves to give the area a nicer look. You even added some fluffy carpet in front of the area to enhance the comfiness. And when you went over to the front door and then turned to look at the whole space you smiled because it really did look good. Larger than you’d intended, sure, but also very comfy now too.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You think you’re done with the inside until you look up at the bare walls between the stained glass windows. They were a little… naked. So you tried hanging up some paintings but… they looked terrible. The ‘round’ angle of the windows kept the options for what paintings you could put up pretty narrow. So you forgot that idea and instead tried putting up item frames! But you put some up and disliked it almost immediately. It felt way too busy so you got rid of those too. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You were getting tired of decorating so you just grabbed a random banner (purple because why not?) and then you grabbed a handful of different colored dyes before pulling out a loom. You tried a bunch of different designs, threw out most of them because they either ended up with ugly clashing colors or looking way too busy. But you finally settled on one that was a purple banner with an orange gradient coming up from the bottom and finally a gold sun right in the middle. It looked very pretty, like a sunset!</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Once you were happy you hung a couple inside then on a whim you even hung a couple outside your door on either side. It made the outside look prettier in your opinion so once you were done (for real this time) you went and just flopped into bed, not feeling more than a touch tired but with nothing else to do at the moment. So you snuggled into your big cozy bed and drifted off to sleep~</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Days passed since you built your home and you kept up work around the village, planting bamboo and berry bushes in a wall around it in a circle as a form of defense against the Illagers. They were kinda jerks and seemed to only want to kill villagers. Which wasn’t cool. And yeah you could have dug a moat or pit around it instead you guessed but you didn’t want any of the villagers falling in and you felt like they would… </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So a wall of bamboo and prickly berry bushes it was. And it works! And looks dope. So win/win.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And it was as you were on your way to put some lights at the bottoms of the ponds and rivers that you noticed it from the corner of your eye. One of your sunset banners! But it was hanging up outside of the weaponsmith’s place instead of on your temple home where you knew you left it. But then you noticed another one hanging up outside the stonemason’s workshop…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You look over at your home up on the hill and see your banners still in place. And you know none of them trudged all the way up there just to steal one from the inside so you decide to investigate more in the village. And the further you walk in the more banners with your pattern on them you see. Actually every building you pass has at least one hung up somewhere near the door. You blinked before chuckling a little and thinking to yourself,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Oh! They all must have seen the banner I made and liked it! So they made their own to hang up. That’s actually pretty cute. I’m glad they like it.’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You were blissfully ignorant to the fact that the villagers have started to see you as their saint of sorts. Their goddess of prosperity and kindness. Without whom they would still be lost and living in pathetic huts and with no drive to acquire a skill and better themselves. They honestly look back on those times as such a dark period of their lives. When they were ignorant of their own abilities without your blessing to guide them. They owed you their lives and they wanted to show their thanks to you.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So when they saw you put up your sunset banners on your temple they quickly went to the shepherd and asked him to make them some just like it! And the shepherd, with his skill being a master thanks to your wonderful trading help, was easily able to craft such banners. Every villager had at least one by the time the sun was going down, all of them proudly being hung on the outsides of their homes and work buildings to show their allegiance to you!</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But it wouldn’t stop there. The villagers wanted to give back even a fraction of what you have given to them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the following weeks you definitely noticed the villagers acting… odd. It started small at first, with them each coming to you and giving you gifts. The shepherd gave you a pair of blankets that were beautifully crocheted with this fluffy wool yarn, one that’d been dyed a soft baby pink while the other was a soothing sea foam color. You thanked him with a smile three times over and he seemed endlessly happy you liked them. You took them home and laid them across your bed and liked the pop of color they provided your space.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Though after that the farmer and leatherworker both met you at the entrance to your temple and each gifted you some things they thought you’d like. The farmer happily handed over a full basket of freshly baked bread along with another basket containing a bushel of golden carrots and almost a full melon’s worth of glistering melon slices. While the leatherworker offered up a pair of dainty leather sandals that looked like they would lace up your legs to just below your knees. And also what looked like a prettily crafted leather utility belt! It had lotus details and golden studs and buckles on the front and back. And one large pocket, one medium zipper pocket, and two smaller pockets. You loved all of their gifts and thanked them both over and over while safely putting the food away (and maybe eating some bread right then) and putting the slippers and belt on. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You were beyond grateful and thought that was the end of that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You… were wrong.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the days turned into weeks you were lavished with more and more offerings. It took you a while to realize that’s what they were; offerings. You got a little uncomfortable with all the gifts after a bit but when you started to refuse them the villagers looked so sad so you began to accept them again. Especially after they tried to make ‘better’ stuff for you after your initial refusal, under the impression the last ones weren’t good enough for you or something. It started to get hard to take in all the gifts, because sometimes you weren’t available in the village (you still liked to explore) or because you were working on something and they couldn’t reach you. So as a solution you set up a double chest outside your temple for them to put the gifts in. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They eagerly adapted to that and each night you’d clean out the chest, putting away practical gifts and discreetly getting rid of ones you had WAY too many of. Like the food. You had a full double chest of food and you didn’t need anymore, but saying so would probably hurt their feelings. So this was the easiest way. Plus a lot of the gifts you actually DID like. Like the sandals, hip pocket belt, and the pretty white dress you were currently wearing. The under part of it was just a simple white sleeveless mini dress that went above your knees (you’re not sure it was that shirt when you first tried it on..) and the over part of the dress was a sheer white maxi dress with loose ruffled sleeved that hung off your shoulders, and a slit on each side that helped with ease of movement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d taken to wearing the dress, the hip pocket belt, and sandals every day. They were all comfortable and looked pretty good on you now that you think about it. Not to mention the fabric was light and breathable too, which helped keep you from getting too hot. You’re not sure what kind of fabric it’s made of, but whatever it is it’s light enough to not make you sweat but it’s also heavy enough to keep you from getting cold when it’s windy. Regardless, it’s your go-to outfit these days.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But aside from the offerings and stuff, you had to sit down and really examine your current position. You really took the time to pay attention to how the villagers were treating you. And you eventually came to the conclusion that they were treating you like some kind of saint or deity. They gave you the best of their wares as offerings, they took on your banner as their own (presumably as a show of loyalty), and they almost seemed to worship the ground you walked on. This isn’t even mentioning the statues that they’d put up of you… Like, they were good! Very well done and made of polished white quartz but.. it was still strange. Though like everything else you can’t say you weren’t getting used to it all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You sighed and rolled with it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You realized one day you’d never been to the Nether. And you wondered if the rules here (like mobs not bothering you) was also true there? You couldn’t deny you were sorta excited to go see, but also scared. You HATED the freaking Hoglins when you played Minecraft before this place. They were always so aggressive and you can’t count how many times they’d killed you, the bastards. But your curiosity won out over your anxiety so you grabbed the enchanted diamond pickaxe you’d been given and then paused while grabbing a stack of gold bars.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait I need to wear gold right? Or the Piglins will be all mad,” you said as you grabbed a gold helmet from your inventory.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You thoughtlessly went to put it on but jerked the helmet back when it clanged against something hard. Something hard that made you wince as a small shock of pain went through your skull. A curse left your lips as you asked out loud what the fuck THAT was about. You were in the middle of trying to come up with an explanation when you reached up with your free hand and flinched when it came into contact with something on your head. Something that 200% was NOT your hair or skull. Panic bubbled inside you and your stomach sank into your feet as you whipped the gold helmet up to look into its polished surface to see yourself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Horns? Little blunt horns… On your head. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With a shaky hand you reached up, sort of hoping this was just a dream. But when your fingertips brushed against the soft velvety texture of the horns your breathing grew faster and you pulled your hand away like you’d been burned. You dropped the helmet, not even hearing it clatter against the floor as you stumbled back, nearly tripping over the step that led up to the platform your bed was on, but you somehow managed to get to the bed and sit down.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Before you knew it you’d burst into tears and buried your face into your hands, sobbing and unable to cope with this new fuckery. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’ve had to deal with so much weird insane shit since ending up here, wherever the fuck HERE was. You were honestly so tired. You’ve done your best to stay calm, stay sane, and just keep going. And for the most part you have! You focused on surviving, building, and dealing with the villagers. You’d probably feel silly for breaking down over some dumb horns later, especially after you’d barely batted an eye over your weird ears, teeth, and EYES. But the breakdown was probably more to do with life deciding to give you another slice of bullshit despite your overflowing plate. At least that’s what the logical part of your mind was thinking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But the illogical part, the emotional part, was just so done. So you cried and cried and cried your very soul out until no sound was leaving you anymore. And then, once you were cried out and exhausted you weakly crawled onto the pillows and just passed out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d deal with this new shit later.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Far on the outskirts of the opposite side of the village from your temple a young boy with golden hair stumbled across the entrance to said village. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’d never seen this village before and was curious. He’d have gladly stormed in and started going through villager chests for loot but it was getting close to dusk and his older brother said he needed to get back asap. Now usually he’d shrug off his brother’s bossy nature but he’d sounded worried so he decided to hurry and get back before it got too late.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But before he turned and left he marked down this village’s coordinates so he could get back to it later..</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Oh (rein) Deer!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You struggle to get used to your still developing physical features.<br/>Your villagers attempt to help.<br/>And two teen boys visit your village and cause a ruckus.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Come ON Wilbur! Come with me to check out the huge village I found the other week!” shouted Tommy while making sure to get in his older brother’s way as much as possible. He figured if Wilbur was focused on him and not whatever ‘super important’ shit he was busy with then he’d join him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wilbur meanwhile was doing everything he could to sidestep and ignore said younger brother. Now usually he’d humor the much younger boy but Wilbur was sorta busy at the moment. There’s been murmurs of unrest within the L’manburg territory lately since new faces have joined their country. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Apparently they weren’t happy about the fact that Wilbur was a self appointed president, and likened him to a dictator because of it since no one got a say in his leadership role. Which Wilbur thought was highly unfair. He’d fought tooth and nail for his country, so they could have and enjoy all the freedoms to do as they pleased without Dream and his cronies breathing down their necks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everything he did he did for his country. But he didn’t want them to see him as some unsympathetic tyrant who didn’t listen to his people. He’s not Dream, he actually listens when they speak, even when they say they don’t like his self appointed role as president. So yes, Wilbur was sort of busy with more important things than goofing off and finding some random village. But instead of snapping he just sighed and said,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Tommy, I’m working. We’re supposed to be running a country, remember?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The aforementioned boy let out an aggravated sigh, he knows they have a duty to L’Manburg, he’s not stupid! But he also knows they need to be allowed to have some fun now and again too! Or they’ll go crazy! And Tommy was sure Wilbur would go mad if he stayed cooped up inside all the time working! So this was his way of dragging his brother out for his own good.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But Wilbur was being especially stubborn (wonder where Tommy got it…) and was refusing to budge. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t have time right now Tommy! Ask Tubbo or Fundy to tag along. I’m sure they’d love to go vandalize a village with you,” Wilbur distractedly said as he wrote down some notes in one of his books. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy was tired of fighting Wilbur on this and decided to hell with it, he’d just take the L this time. So he scoffed and said “Whatever” in the most pissed off teen voice he could physically summon and turned away from Wilbur and stormed out of the brunet president’s house, making sure to slam the wooden door as hard as he could on his way out. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It seemed like all Wilbur did was mope around and WORK since they’d won independence from the Dream SMP. What the hell was the point of even FIGHTING for said freedom if Wilbur wasn’t even going to enjoy it?? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy pushed those thoughts away and went to search out Tubbo, he could always count on his best friend to follow him into some mischief! Unlike SOME people. And thankfully it didn’t take the rambunctious blond long to find his friend, and with a grin he ran and jumped on the shorter boy, making him yelp in shock and nearly fall. But then Tubbo saw who it was and started laughing and shoving the taller boy away half heartedly. But after goofing around a bit Tommy remembers why he’d searched out Tubbo in the first place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oi Tubbo, come with me to this weird village I found the other week. I was gonna explore it when I found it but Wilbur said there was an emergency and I had to leave before I could,” he said as they both walked along the main path.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah sure, but why was it ‘weird’? Was it one of those ones that’s built somewhere stupid like half on a cliff?” Tubbo asked with a laugh. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two laughed and Tommy explained that the village just looked different? Like there was no cobble! Which was ridiculous because in his opinion that was the best part of villages was all the cobble buildings. Not that he was biased or anything like an American. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But Tubbo just laughed and said sure, they could go check it out. He didn’t have anything else important to do today anyways. Tommy gave a triumphant ‘yeah!!’ because at least he got ONE of his friends to not be a total loser and go out to have some good old fashioned fun with him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo told him to lead the way so they were off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many blocks away in your village you were getting out of your ‘shower’, which was really just a waterfall hidden by thick trees and hanging vines behind your temple home. But it was the best shower you’d ever used thanks to how the water fell over you in huge sheets. You’d honestly stay in it for hours if you didn’t hate being bored just standing there. But you did get bored, so you got out and began drying off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once you were dry you started getting dressed in your usual outfit, then once done you paused before reaching down to grab the newest item of your outfit..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Your mask.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After your… horn discovery the week before you’d just laid in bed all day for a couple days. Not leaving your temple for any reason, not even to shower or eat. You’d have been feeling worse if you’d actually needed food but thankfully you didn’t, so when you finally got your ass in gear and got up to bathe you only felt marginally like shit. At least you had until you went to go bathe…...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But on that first day up you’d just stared at yourself in the reflection of the water and sighed. You didn’t have the urge to cry anymore, so that was a good thing. But you also weren’t a fan of the new horns or glowing eyes you’d had since ending up here. You weren’t even sure what KIND of horns these were?? And… call you crazy but you SWEAR they were bigger than they were before your stint laying in bed..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They’d only been little nubs before, not even as big as your thumb! But now they were at least five inches long and sort of splitting at the tips? It looked weird and honestly felt even weirder what with that velvety texture covering them. You made the foolish mistake of grumbling to yourself, </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Things couldn’t get weirder, right?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And as if the universe heard you… you discovered a new ‘appendage’ on your body while you started to wash your body off. You’d been lost in thought, just scrubbing yourself with a soapy washcloth when you’d started reaching around to wash your back, your washcloth brushed against something protruding from the base of your spine, right above your ass. This time you didn’t start panicking, you think you were still worn out from the days previous, so instead of freaking out you just slowly craned your neck around to see if you could glimpse the...thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A tail. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You blinked, shocked but also.. confused? What in the absolute fuck? Why? When?? This time there was no sobbing or breakdown, you were honestly just puzzled. Are you ever going to STOP growing animal traits or what? Under any other circumstances you might even call the tail cute. It was small, probably just smaller than your hand and about the same shape too. And the majority of the top of it was the same color as your hair, but the sides (and underside after you got curious enough to look under it) were a soft white. With how you were in water the tail looked rather unimpressive and you couldn’t identify what kind of tail it was, but if it was at all connected to the horns then maybe deer? Or caribou? Reindeer? The last two seemed more likely since those animals’ females actually grew antlers you think. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Having to adjust to all this new shit practically every other day was giving you a headache. With a tired sigh you rubbed the area around the base of your antlers, soothed slightly by how the action dulled your headache. But you couldn’t ignore the issue at hand, so you swallowed down your unease and instead just decided since you couldn’t control these… unnatural features then.. well, you’d just cover them up or since that wasn’t possible for the horns now you’d just disguise them?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d been stumped for a while on how to even DO that but eventually you’d gone down to the village to feed the animals and you’d watched the armorer leave his house to get started working for the day. And you’d noticed the mask he wore pushed up on his forehead. That’s when the idea for a mask hit you. But you didn’t know how to make or even craft a mask, so you’d gone to the armorer and asked him about it. It was hard to grasp what he was saying clearly but after the months living with the villagers you’d picked up some stuff and could understand them some.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So you let him show you how to make a standard iron mask like his, though the first one he’d made hadn’t fit you in the end so he’d made a second after tweaking the size a bit so it’d fit your face right, since your face shapes weren’t the same. But you were thankful and said so after you put it on. Though the eye holes still revealed your eyes, which you didn’t like. You asked how hard it would be to put reflective lenses in them to prevent your eyes from being seen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That question turned into the armorer calling over the cartographer, the stonemason, and the shepherd oddly enough to help him out. They were murmuring and crowding around the armorer’s workstation while you watched from the edge of the porch where you sat idly. You didn’t want to hover over them like some busybody, so you sat patiently to see what they came up with together. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And after a while your patience was rewarded when they came over to show you the fruit of their collaboration. And it surprised you how gorgeous it was, which wasn’t fair since you had 4 skill masters working on it together for you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The mask was actually very beautiful. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a white half mask that only covered your eyes, forehead, and upper nose/cheeks but left the lower half of your face bare. And you think it was simply painted white because it felt about as heavy as iron, but the part that amazed you was how it almost looked Venetian in design. On the forehead of the mask was a golden sun, and golden floral swirls came from the corners of the mask and curled near the cheeks and sides of the sun on the forehead, making the mask look elegant and almost vintage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the best parts in your opinion were the glass lenses in the eye holes. They were reflective and the same colors as your banner! You don’t know how the villagers did it but the edges of the lens were a goldish orange and the color faded into a violet in the center. You worried you wouldn’t be able to see through them but when you put the mask on you realized the lens only gave things a VERY slight blue/grey tint. So slight in fact that you could fully ignore it if you wanted. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And the second best part was some of the floral swirls actually swirled UP past the top edge of the mask and rested against your horns, giving the illusion that they were somehow part of the mask. Actually with the mask on you could almost trick yourself into thinking you were just wearing a cool looking Mardi Gras mask! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You clapped your hands in glee and couldn’t help the excited sound you let out as you gushed and told them it was perfect! They all let out bashful happy murmurs and generally looked shyly pleased with your praise. You tried to give them each some emeralds but they refused to take them, grunting and shaking their heads each time you attempted to push the gems towards them. Eventually you gave up and resigned to accepting the mask as a gift, but you’d definitely do something nice for them later, to make up for their hard work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d taken to wearing the mask at all times when not in the privacy of your temple. Which wasn’t very hard to get accustomed to. The mask was lightweight and the lenses honestly helped shield your eyes from the glare of the sun so win/win. And it also made your horns, in your opinion at least, less in your face. Which was good because they were definitely still growing. You could tell. And the split in the tip was now more pronounced, making you wonder if they were like… reindeer antlers? It would fit with the tail currently growing out the base of your spine, said tail that now looked REALLY like a fluffy little deer tail since the hair/fur on it had dried. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One good thing was that your tail wasn’t long or huge and could actually be hidden relatively easily under a shawl you tied around your waist. So that was one less thing to worry about. Though your life would infinitely be easier if you didn’t have to deal with all this inhuman bullshit. But you supposed life wasn’t fair and expecting it to be was foolish. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“At least I’m not part some weird animal like an aardvark or something…” you mumble to yourself, trying to view this whole thing in a ‘glass half full’ sort of way. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d decided to relax and unwind from your recent discovery by just taking things easy for a while. First day since you got the mask and such you just chilled and started a small farm for yourself. You didn’t need the food but the process of building the farm and toiling the earth and then sowing the seeds was actually pretty therapeutic. The repetition of it all was pretty calming. Just you, your gardening tools, and the earth beneath your feet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The days following were pretty much the same. You’d tend your garden first thing in the morning after your shower, then you’d go off to find something else easy to fill your time. You took up feeding the animals, making flower boxes and planters around the town to make it more colorful, potion brewing, and even fishing. Which was what you were doing right now actually.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were sitting on the edge of the pond next to your temple, bare legs in the cool water and your back resting against the side of another grass block, an enchanted fishing rod you’d traded the town fisherman for sitting stuck in the ground next to you while you relaxed. The day was actually quite beautiful and nice. Sun streamed down over you from between the bamboo behind you, fluffy fat bees buzzed overhead as they hunted lazily for pollen, and you were close to dozing off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hnn! Hnn! Hnnn!!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At least you would have dozed off if you hadn’t heard one of the villagers sorta freaking out. You looked up and saw one of the farmers panickedly shuffling about at the top of the small hill to your left. You wondered if zombies got into the village again? But no it was sunny out, they’d be burning if they did. Illagers maybe? But how would they have gotten around the bamboo and prickly berry bushes?? Well there wasn’t anything else for you to do than do see what was wrong.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You put away your fishing rod, got up and dusted yourself off before hurrying up the hill after the villager. You trailed after them down the lantern lit path but so far didn’t see anything, but you perked up when you heard telltale sounds of one of the iron golems fighting something and taking damage. That put some urgency in your gait and soon you were running to see what was going on. You rush past the fletcher’s home and then the cartographer’s right after but nothing. Then you finally round the corner where the market is set up and see at the very end of the path next to the cleric’s church is the altercation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You sprint down the path, yelling for the villager’s to stay inside until you ring the town bell as you run past them. You hear the doors slam closed behind you and you manage to get to the problem right as your iron golem gives one last cry before getting poofed. You gasp sadly and then glare when you hear cheering. A blond boy that was shorter than you hopped down from a dirt block tower and scooped up the fallen iron ingots the poor iron golem dropped upon its death.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were so pissed that you ignored the nagging feeling in the back of your focus that said this kid looked familiar. It wasn’t until he finally turned to look at you that it hit you. Holy shit this kid looked… and sounded.. like that minecraft youtuber, TommyInnit.. Like eerily so. You’re glad you’re wearing your mask so he can’t see the deer in headlights (*ba-dun-ts*) look on your face at the sight of him. And your shock didn’t fade with him speaking. If anything it reinforced the idea that this kid was weirdly reminiscent of that youtuber. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Holy fuck! You are a MASSIVE woman. Wait, who the fuck are you?!” he said in a loud tone of voice as he looked up at you. It made your eyebrows furrow. You were NOT that big! He was just short! You even crossed your arms and told him so, which earned a snicker from the little brown haired boy in dark green overalls next to him. The blond boy scoffed, looked fully offended, snarked back that you were about the same height as a ‘bloody fuckin’ iron golem!’ so yes you were huge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You glared at the little TommyInnit look alike and instead of arguing about your height you started scolding both boys, which they hadn’t really.. expected? At least from the surprised looks on their faces (which still had the roundness that came from baby fat). The brunet rubbed his elbow and sort of toed the dirt under his feet while the blond crossed his arms and almost looked to be pouting from the scolding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“My height isn’t the issue here! The issue is you two barging into my village, killing one of my iron golems, stealing the loot from it, and scaring my poor villagers!! What in the hell were you two thinking?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The blond tried to cut in, to defend himself but he barely got out the first syllable before you held up your hand to signal for him to silence himself as you snapped,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I do NOT wanna hear it! You treat others this way?? Like they’re nothing, like their possessions and peace of mind don’t mean a damn thing?! Shame on you both!!” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>By the end the two boys looked properly scolded. The brunet wondered if THIS is what it felt like to get scolded by one’s mother, and if it was then he’d like to avoid it for the remainder of his life. And the blond meanwhile actually didn’t have anything to say, or more accurately he didn’t know what to say to not feel like he was in massive trouble.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You meanwhile were just annoyed at this point, so you held you hand out (causing both boys to give you wondering looks) before you demanded the iron ingots that the blond stole from your slain iron golem. He got all in a huff, saying he earned them and they were just ingots- but you slapped that train of thought down with an angry,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“EARNED?? More like STOLE! After you killed my iron golem! Now give them back! I have to use them to make a new golem to protect this village.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The blond sputtered, face blooming red at being blatantly called out on his theft, before muttering in embarrassment and pulling the ingots out and practically tossing them at you. You caught them and returned them to your inventory before shaking your head at the two and saying they should leave if their only goal in your village was to kill and destroy property. The small brunet quickly spoke up and said,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No wait, we didn’t come just to mess stuff up! We came cuz Tommy said he found this place last week and it wasn’t the usual village so we wanted to explore it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Your stomach churned at the name.. Tommy. This was getting weird again. Way too fucking weird. But you resisted clenching your teeth anxiously like you wanted, instead you raised an eyebrow they couldn’t see and shot back,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh yeah? And how did that escalate into killing my iron golem?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This time it was ‘Tommy’ who cut in and said it had been an accident! They’d apparently been looking around when Tubbo (you felt queasy now after hearing that name too…) started fighting a spider and Tommy came over to help him, but in the process he accidentally hit the iron golem, who got pissed and smacked him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I ran from the thing and towered up three blocks! I knew it wouldn’t let up so I had to kill it! S’not my fault the bastard was holding a grudge!!” Tommy said heatedly, arms still crossed defiantly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You wanted to rub your temples in exasperation but couldn’t without removing your mask. And like hell you were showing these kids your weirdo inhuman eyes. Though… if they really were the characters from.. the videos you got hooked on? Honestly this whole thing was 10 times weirder than the stupid glowy eyes or even the horns or tail.. Like this has to be proof you’re really dreaming or in a coma or something. What other logical explanation could there BE? These kids aren’t real. Nothing here is. It CAN’T be. The real people behind these… minecraft characters? They’re not here. In this place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Before you could do a kickflip off the edge of your sanity into a full on mental breakdown you took in a calming breath and pushed those thoughts away until you were alone to give it the proper attention. And maybe so you could have your panic attack in peace and quiet. But right now you had two kids causing ruckus in your village. So you just said,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah alright, fine. I’ll forgive you both THIS TIME. But don’t make a habit of causing trouble in my village. And you can look around and explore, just don’t steal anything or hurt any of my villagers or animals. Got it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two boys nodded, happy to not have you giving them that Angry Adult Tone anymore. So you turned and started walking back to the middle of the village, calling for them to come on. You had to ring the village center bell to tell everyone everything was okay.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Both boys shared a glance before Tubbo smiled and started jogging after you, Tommy right behind him, both curious about you and your village.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Y'all won't believe it! Capriciousfan on here (Naraenia-chan on DA) drew some truly BOMB fanart of Reader!!!! Y'all should check their other art out because if it's even half as good as the art of Reader then it must be fantastic!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <span></span><br/>    <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/naraenia-chan/art/Reader-all-Versions-glow-869044961?ga_submit_new=10%3A1612246476">Reader looking heavenly~!</a><br/>  </p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Quality Time & Mom Vibes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You spend the day with the two boys who popped up in your village.<br/>You'd missed human interaction more than you realized.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>You’d rung the bell, the sound alerting the villagers that things were all okay again. Soon they were all outside again and a lot came over to see what was going on. You were standing by two human kids. Villagers were typically pretty neutral to humans, unless they hurt them or broke their stuff. Though they tended to avoid humans (even the small/young ones) because of how dangerous they had the potential to be. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This was sorta reinforced by today’s little drama. But with you there the villagers weren’t worried. They trusted you to keep them safe and protect them and their homes/businesses. Plus a few of them kind of heard you scolding the two human boys and well, villagers are true gossips because word spread through the small population hilariously fast. And yes they may have snickered over the two boys getting lectured like they did. But you’d never know that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>During this Tommy and Tubbo took the time to look around at the village. They noticed there wasn’t a single piece of cobblestone anywhere, much to Tommy’s outrage and Tubbo’s amusement. Tommy made sure to loudly gripe about how the village lost all of it’s ‘cool factor’ because you took the cobblestone away. He even started to say that if cobblestone was like a woman he’d-... but he stopped when he seemed to realize that not only was he standing directly next to an ACTUAL woman but an adult one…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He started sweating nervously and shooting a glare at Tubbo when the brown haired boy snickered at his uncomfortable position, but in the end he sort of mumbled,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh.. you don’t wanna know what I’d… do.. pft.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo couldn’t hold it in anymore and broke out into laughter, with Tommy right behind him. While you just shook your head and made a ‘tsk’ing’ noise at the goofy pair. But you didn’t bother to hide your amused smile. Once they’d calmed down you resumed your trek. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As you walked the two boys noted the second thing that stood out to them in the village were all the identical patterned banners that were hung up. The two tone ones with the golden suns on them. Tubbo lightly tugged on your sleeve, causing you to blink and look down at him curiously, and he asked why you hung them up everywhere. Was it to show this was your village or?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh? Oh no, I didn’t hang those up, the villagers did. Though I made the original ones, the ones I hung up on my home. But the villagers liked them so much they made their own,” you explained with a calm smile.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hearing this made the boys share a confused look before Tommy bluntly said that villagers never made patterned banners, they only hung up the plain ones. He’d never heard of them making banners ever. But you just shrugged and said the day after you’d hung up yours the villagers had all started copying you. You’re not 100% sure why (though you have a suspicion it’s the worship thing… but you didn’t bring that up..), you just assumed it was because they took a liking to them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I just wanted some decoration for my house and made the banner to spruce the place up, and it was sweet they liked them so much,” you added with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy tilted his head before looking around the village and asking which house was yours. He pointed at one that was made of wood, stone, and pink terracotta and asked if that was it because ‘you’re a girl, girls like pink right?’ which just made you laugh and shake your head. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Some girls like pink, sure. Though I know some boys do as well. But no that’s not my house. Mine is up there on the hill at the other end of the village, see?” You pointed towards your temple home and the two boys followed your gesture and their eyes widened at the sight of the huge white quartz temple. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Almost instantly Tommy started shouting about how that wasn’t a house, it was some kinda mansion or something! You just laughed and asked if he’d even ever seen a mansion before. He paused for a second, mouth open like he was going to say something but nothing came out. But then he caught himself and loudly said he’d seen LOADS of mansions before! So he knew what he was talking about.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You didn’t bother questioning him, you know he didn’t sound too sure, but what harm was there in letting him pretend he knew when he didn’t? Regardless, you and the two boys continued walking through the village, but Tommy and Tubbo (thinking that made you feel crazy still) said they wanted to see your cool house. You raised an eyebrow and asked if ALL they planned to do was look.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It took exactly two days and two nights to build it, I don’t want two troublemakers wrecking it,” you said with a suspicious tone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy was first to heave a put upon sigh as he said they weren’t gonna wreck your stuff! But it was Tubbo who cut in and said that no way did you build that huge thing in just a couple days! It would have had to take you a week at best! </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You tilted your head and said it didn’t take a ‘couple days’ only, it took two days and two nights straight. But that answer just baffled the two boys more. And Tommy said in a disbelieving voice,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You built for 48 hours straight?” You nodded and Tommy raised an eyebrow, not seeming to believe you.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What, did ya just eat along the way?? Fought mobs while building at night??” He asked, sounding amused. And you, entirely without thinking how WEIRD it was going to sound, just replied that you’d sort of forgotten to eat while you were building.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah I got way too focused on building and after scrapping the first three builds I tried and settled on my temple house I got too into it and forgot to eat or sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You admitted it with some shame before quickly turning to the two stunned boys and saying they shouldn’t do stuff like that, it was irresponsible and dangerous! Tommy frowned and replied that YOU just admitted to doing those very things! But you countered that you were an adult and allowed to make your own stupid choices, but as kids they should heed smart advice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s very much a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type situation,” you said with a wry smile.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The blond was very much going to argue against that but you all finally scaled the path leading up the hill to your temple home and Tubbo saw the chest situated outside your home to the left of the front door. Without thinking he went over and started plundering through the chest, but yelped when you smacked his hand, causing him to pull both hands out of the chest and tuck them close to his stomach.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t go through my gift chest! The villagers use this to give me thank you gifts!” you scold the brunet boy. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They start bombarding you with questions, like why on earth do the villagers give you gifts? What kind of gifts were they? What’d you do to earn them? Are you blackmailing the villagers? If so, then can you teach them how to do that? You burst out laughing at the way the questions just got more and more absurd. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No! I do not blackmail anyone! Lord, what is with you two kids? No, I work to protect the village and help the villagers master their crafts. And in return they thank me with gifts they make,” you answered with an amused grin.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But it seemed the blond only focused on one part of your reply, and it was the part where you called him a kid. A split second of dumbfounded stunned silence ensued before he snapped out of it and started raging, much to your and Tubbo’s amusement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I ain’t no CHILD! I am a MAN! A tall and powerful man who don’t gotta take crap from nobody! TUBBO STOP LAUGHING! SHE CALLED YOU A CHILD TOO!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo didn’t even respond, he was too busy laughing. You were laughing too but managed to calm down enough to say that there was nothing wrong with being a child, it just meant you had more learning to do and experience to gain. Tommy and Tubbo seemed to calm down at hearing this, at least until you reached out and pinches both boys’ cheeks and cooed,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And besides, you’re both cute widdle babies~!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now they were both hollering about ‘not being babies!’ and kicking up a huge fuss, much to your amusement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After that you’d gone through the day’s gifts and saw most of them were the usual stuff (but still great). Plenty of bread and fruit, potion stuff, and a fur blanket. You packed away the food in a chest, put up the potion supplies by your brewing station, and threw the nice fur blanket across the end of your bed as decoration. All in all they were lovely gifts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But one of the gifts really stood out. A red wooden box. And when you opened it you saw it had 6 engraved gold bangles. And they had different engravings. Some were carved to have leafy vines, some had geometric shapes, others had fish scale patterns, and even some with simple swirls and dots. But they all had a hinge to open them and a thin chain to keep them from falling off should they accidentally come open.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You loved all the gifts the villagers got you, how could you not? They were the fruits of their labor and skill! But these bracelets just hit different? You’d always liked gold, it was pretty and just crisp looking. SO without hesitation you’d put the bracelets on, three on each wrist before admiring them in the waning light of the sunset.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d even showed the two teen boys after you put them on and they said they looked nice, though you could tell they were only being polite, most likely because they had no interest in jewelry. Though you appreciate them trying to be nice for your sake. But while you were admiring your latest gift Tubbo noticed something simmering in your cauldron by your brewing stand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He cautiously approached it while you were showing Tommy your enchantment table and library (tommy wanted to enchant his sword). The brown haired boy let the scent from the lightly bubbling cauldron waft across his face and he breathed it in with a pleased sigh. Whatever this was it was clearly food, but damn did it smell like utter heaven! He could see chunks of steak, cuts of potato and carrot, and some other green bits he didn’t recognize. But he did recognize the light golden sheen the stew(?) had. Just like an enchanted golden apple! </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>All three of you blinked when a sudden growing gurgle sounded through the quartz temple. You and Tommy looked over at Tubbo, whose face was red with embarrassment. He laughed awkwardly and said the food smelled good, and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast as his excuse. But you just gave a laugh and went over to the cauldron, scooting him out of the way so you could check on it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two watched you stir the concoction with a wooden spoon before tasting some and letting out a pleased hum. Cooking was similar to potion making so you’d started doing both lately to keep yourself busy. You’d started with the recipes you already knew from the game. Mushroom stew, beetroot soup, rabbit stew, bread, etc. But those got boring fast so you decided.. why not try something new? So you’d started just doing whatever sounded like a good idea.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You learned LOTS of new recipes (and made sure to jot them down in a book so you didn’t forget them/what they did) but you also made some truly vile foodstuff. Lots of your failed concoctions ended up in the trash. But this latest one actually tasted darn good to you. After trying it you even noticed it gave you the same effects as the enchanted golden apple. Which was cool since you’d marinated the steak you’d put in the stew in a bowl of enchanted gapple juice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Behind you you could hear Tubbo bugging Tommy, asking him to give him some food since he ran out and his hunger was low. But Tommy refused, saying he only had one loaf of bread left and Tubbo should have brought more food! You rolled your eyes at the bickering pair of boys before wordlessly grabbing some wooden bowls and scooping some of the enchanted beef stew into them before calling over your shoulder,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Y’all two want some stew? It turned out really good this time I think.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo gave a thankful, “Oh yes, please!” while Tommy gave a childish, “Yeah! Gimme!” that made you want to laugh at their silliness. But instead you just handed over the two bowls of stew. You turned back around to grab yourself one (because you might not NEED food but it still tastes good) and while your back was turned you heard them greedily slurping and munching on the stew. You’d turned back and came face to face with two boys with empty bowls held out to you to show they’d like more. You barked out a laugh and teasingly asked if it was any good. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy didn’t seem to want to wait and shook his bowl and demanded in a snarky tone to “Hurry it up woman!” which.. made you frown. You were giving him a very unamused look, which he seemed to register and realize he may have misstepped here. He sweat anxiously with a nervous smile while Tubbo’s face dropped and he held his own bowl closer to his chest, not liking the tense silence. For some reason having you upset with him made him not feel so good. Like it was a bone deep feeling that left him hugely on edge. Tubbo glanced over at his best friend and knew the same could be said for him, because Tommy looked vaguely ill. But after a harsh elbow jab from the brunet the blond seemed to snap into the present and stuttered,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I was-uh, y’see I was only.. kidding. Yeah! Kidding! What I really meant was can I please have some more??” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Your frown twitched before turning into a wry smile. You huffed out a chuckle that made both boys' anxieties fade. Their bodies seemed to deflate from how tense they’d been before as you handed over the full bowl in your hand to him and said while you ruffled his hay colored hair, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice save kiddo, because if you’d have been smarting off for real I’d have been pretty irked. Thankfully it was only a joke~”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy gave a relieved chuckle before he shamelessly gobbled down his new bowl of stew, seemingly back to normal now that you didn’t seem upset at him anymore. You mentally shook your head, he was such a kid it was pretty funny. But then you turned your gaze to Tubbo and held your hand out for his bowl, which he happily handed over with a shy ‘thank you!’ that made you smile. Soon they were both digging in all over again. Only this time you joined them, positively delighted with how this new stew had turned out. After eating you’d even offered them some iced tea you’d made. And this had started a whole Thing with the two British boys.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They’d argued that iced tea was an abomination and hot tea was the only right way to do tea. You’d rolled your eyes and asked if they’d ever even TRIED iced tea before. That got Tubbo to sorta stutter before falling silent but Tommy, ever the hard headed one, just plowed on and said he didn’t NEED to try it to know it wasn’t good. You gave him a Look and shook your head before convincing them to just try it and if they didn’t like it then they could dump it out. After some back and forth they caved and tried it, and lo and behold they both enjoyed it. The crisp drink was perfect for warm weather, unlike hot tea. But even after begrudgingly admitting it wasn’t ‘total shit’ Tommy refused to admit he liked it better than ‘proper tea’. You took this all as a win regardless.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’d spent the majority of the day with the two young boys, just showing them around and feeding them and goofing off. You’d forgotten how fun it was to interact with people like this. To have actual conversation that wasn’t just ‘hms’ and ‘hngs’ like with the Villagers. You still loved the villagers, they were good folks but you’d missed talking with people normally. Which is why you were understandably bummed out when you saw the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon. But you knew being out after dark wasn’t wise for regular people. You even brought it up to the two boys, not wanting them to have to face any hostile mobs on their way home. They reassured you they’d be fine, they’ve got good gear and enchanted weapons, but you still worried.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Though instead of letting it get to you and ruining the rest of the evening you instead packed the two boys some food to go. You put the rest of the stew into bowls and served up a couple more glasses of iced tea before gifting them to them, making sure they each got an equal share. Tubbo tried to politely say you didn’t have to give them anything while Tommy just let out a ‘whoop!’ and shoved his share into his inventory with a wide grin. That helped Tubbo accept his too without any more shyness. Soon they were all packed up and ready to go home, wherever that was.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But before they headed off Tubbo asked if they could come back, with Tommy perking up at the question, clearly wanting to know your answer too. With a smile you said of course they could come back to visit you and your village. You’d be delighted to host them again! Even if your first impression of them wasn’t that nice. You chuckled when Tommy had the decency to at least look somewhat sheepish. But your smile wasn’t upset and let them know you were only teasing, and it was water under the bridge. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I look forward to you two coming back again! Maybe you can help me out around the village and in return I can pay you or maybe make you both more food-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy and Tubbo cut you off by almost yelling out in unison, “FOOD!” which made you laugh out loud. You held up a hand in mock surrender and agreed to make them more food the next time they stopped by. The pair looked excited and waved before picking the berries from the bushes surrounding your village (so they wouldn’t take damage from the thorns) and hurried through them. You waved goodbye in return then took some bone meal out to help the bushes grow back before heading back home. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You had a great day, and weren’t lying when you said you couldn’t wait for the two to come back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy and Tubbo made it back to L’manburg without too much fuss, only having to kill a few zombies and skeletons along the way. Though by the time they got back it was very much after dark and everyone had settled in for the night to avoid the hostile mobs. So the two boys didn’t bother checking in with anyone since it was already late and they were tired from the journey back. But to their surprise Wilbur was waiting up for them in the kitchen, sipping some tea and working on some papers.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oi, you two are back late. Run into trouble or somethin’?” Wilbur asked with a wry grin. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And that released the floodgates of the two teen boys unloading everything that’d happened that day. From finding the village to accidentally fighting an iron golem, to meeting YOU! And everything else after. Wilbur listened with wide eyes, surprised to hear them talk about meeting a new person, a stranger outside of a country/city place that they knew of. One that apparently took over a village? Weird. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But L’manburg could always use more allies. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe he should go pay you a visit too.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Bonding in the Nether</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You join your two boys into the Nether and save their asses in the process. &lt;3</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>True to their word Tommy and Tubbo came back to see you the very next day, having gotten up early (well early for them) to get ready and head out. Wilbur had wanted to go with them but he’d gotten caught up in presidential matters and couldn’t, much to his dismay. Too bad for him though that neither boy cared to wait on him since according to Tommy,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’ll take you hours to handle that stuff, I’m not waitin’ that long!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So the pair bailed and Wilbur was left to sigh as he continued his work. And the following day he was blindsided by plans for a new public building everyone was wanting to get built in L’manburg. And they couldn’t plan it without Wilbur’s approval and supervision so while he handled that for the next few weeks the two boys would sneak off to spend time in your village.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They were both pretty good workers, at least when they weren’t goofing off and getting into shenanigans. You can’t count how many times you’d caught Tommy trying to build structures out of cobblestone in the village. He’d argued that he was improving the village but you threatened to eat his portion of the day’s lunch if he didn’t get rid of whatever tower or thing he’d started construction on. He’d always kick up a fuss but would take them down before the day was done. A few times Tubbo would run screaming for you, telling on Tommy for whatever new cobble thing he was trying to build in secret. Tommy either rushing to tear the structure down or chasing after his friend and screaming at him for being a ‘little snitch’.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You knew the two were just playing and they never failed to finish the tasks you gave them so you were mostly just amused by the pair. Though that didn’t stop you from scolding them when they inevitably broke something of yours or the villagers’. But thankfully the times when scoldings or lectures were needed were pretty rare. You’re not sure if this is because the two boys were actually taking your words to heart or not though. But regardless, the time spent together was nice.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Which meant when the two boys mentioned them needing to go to the Nether and asked if you wanted to tag along you said sure. You remembered the classic Nether and even saw parts of the Nether update, but you’d never gotten a chance to explore it in depth. You’d planned to before.. well before you’d ended up here. But that never happened. And once you ended up here you could have gone to the Nether but to be honest it just wasn’t on your list of priorities. You’d been too focused on improving the village and then building your home and stuff. But you figured there was no harm to checking it out now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll either have to go back to L’manburg where there’s already nether portals or we’ll have to find a lava pool around here to make a new one,” Tommy said to you and Tubbo, though more specifically to you. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You raised an eyebrow and asked why, and both boys started replying at the same time, Tubbo trying to explain that they didn’t have any obsidian on them so it was the only options and Tommy just saying ‘because that’s the options unless you’ve got obsidian’ in his usual blunt manner. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Without thinking about it you opened your inventory and took out a stack of obsidian and a flint and steel and held them up to the pair. Their eyebrows raised and Tommy started asking you why the hell you had so much obsidian on you! But you just half shrugged and glanced away, saying you kept an approximate assortment of items on you at all times. The boys gave each other a ‘what the hell’ look before Tubbo shrugged and said who cares then asked where they should build the nether portal.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy suggested building it in the village, but you nixed that idea right away. Tommy huffed and asked WHY NOT and you said you weren’t going to open an actual portal to HELL in the middle of your village. Any number of hostile creatures could come waltzing through and kill your villagers or even burn the place down. Tommy winced and softly mumbled that yeah that was a possibility. You rolled your eyes and Tubbo suggested building it outside the bamboo walls surrounding your village. You agreed and then you three set off to find a good spot. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thankfully finding a spot a safe distance from the village, on a hill too, was pretty easy. And you made the portal as one usually does. At one point you misplaced a block of obsidian and the two boys laughed and Tubbo said that now the portal was going to be all wonky looking. And Tommy was in the middle of saying you sucked at building when you thoughtlessly deleted the block of obsidian before lighting the portal with the flint and steel. All was silent. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>. . . .</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“WOT!? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Tommy practically screeched. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You blinked and looked at the two gobsmacked teens before realizing you’d just pulled some not exactly possible shit. They were giving you two twin Looks that basically screamed for you to explain yourself. But you just stayed silent for a minute before just saying not to worry about it. Internally you winced at that unintentionally dodgy answer but the two boys just kept pestering you, demanding to know how you’d done that. You sighed, knowing they’d keep on pestering you. So you decided to tease them a bit, just for laughs.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You two can’t expect me to give away all my mystical secrets, can you~?” You said with a sly grin, waggling your fingers when you said ‘mystical’, just to play up the drama.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two clearly did because Tommy went on a rant about how that was ‘such bullshit!’ and you can’t just ‘pull some weirdo shit like that and expect no questions!’ and more. You laughed and held your hands up in mock surrender before sighing a dramatic sigh and said fine, you’d reveal one of your secrets. But they had to swear not to tell anyone. Like you expected the two agreed without a thought. Then you took a deep breath and laced your fingers together in front of you, telling them to copy you. They did without question, both looking eager to learn. You told them to close their eyes and breathe steadily and listen to your voice. They did and you couldn’t hold back the smile as you continued,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, keep your eyes closed. Focus on my voice. The key to my master block breaking skills is quite simple really,” you said as you silently inched back, keeping an eye on them both as they stood there, eyes closed and hands clasped in front of them. Your smile grew into a grin as you felt the strange warmth of the nether portal envelop you, purple tinting your vision as you continued,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The key is to just never reveal your secrets!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they registered exactly what you said you were almost totally through the portal, and you started laughing your ass off when you heard Tommy scream,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“READER! YOU BASTARD! COME BACK HERE-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But it got cut off as you were sent through the portal, the last thing you saw was the two boys lunging for you before your view darkened and the almost suffocating heat of the Nether hit you in the face. You stepped forward and yelped as you almost walked right off a cliff into a lava lake. You hurried to put up a wall of obsidian for the boys coming in after you. You didn’t want them to fall, it would have ended poorly for them if they did. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But you couldn’t focus on that shit right now! You had to hide! There wasn’t much around you to hide behind. You were in a large mostly flat area with some flames here and there and a lava lake behind you and a large wall of netherrack in front of you some ways away. You glanced back when you heard the portal activating again, signaling the two coming through. That’s when you glanced up. With a snicker you jumped up onto the top of the portal and laid down on your side, perfectly able to see down. You stayed perfectly still as the portal made its usual strange sound before it spat out the two boys you’d come to care for in a maternal fashion. You’d almost laughed when they smacked right into the wall you put up to keep them from tumbling to their doom. Tommy cursed before following Tubbo to the other side of the portal.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy was definitely fired up, Tubbo laughing as they boys scoured the area for you. They didn’t see a glimpse of you, which felt crazy because you’re in WHITE. In the Nether! You should stick out like a sore thumb! And there was nowhere within running distance to hide so that made Tubbo sputter and ask how fast you were exactly! You bit your tongue to keep from laughing and watched them start walking away from the portal, calling your name and demanding you ‘show yourself this instant!’ as they did. You just watched them go with a grin, deciding to let them wander around a bit before you popped back up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You laid there as they got further away, heading for what looked to be a crimson forest about 50 or so blocks to the left of the portal. As you laid there you sighed. Breathing in the Nether wasn’t fun. It honestly just made you want to grimace, this place honestly felt like a shitty dry summer day in a desert. Overwhelming and too humid to do anyone any good. You just wished it wasn’t so warm to breathe in. If the air was cooler, at least by a handful of degrees, then you’d probably be able to enjoy this place. But you supposed it could be worse. It could be a suffocating WET heat, like trying to breathe through a bowl of hot soup. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At that point you glanced around and noticed you couldn’t see either Tommy or Tubbo anymore. So you figured it was time to go hunt them down so they could try to interrogate you. You walked along, passing a couple zombified piglins as you did. They each had thousand yard stares like regular zombies so you didn’t pay them much mind. Though you noticed when you passed by the regular non zombie piglins they all looked at you, snorting enviously at your golden jewelry. You couldn’t keep the smile from your face. You had to admit that it was nice to have someone appreciate your accessories. The number had increased since you’d started wearing the bangles. The armorer who first made them saw you liked them and so started making more jewelry.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now you had the bangles, a couple anklets, more than a couple necklaces (both chokers and longer ones), plenty of rings, and even some pretty dangly earrings coupled with some studs. Your ears shockingly hadn’t been pierced when you’d gone to put them in after getting the gift. Which was weird since they’d been pierced before? But it wasn’t a big deal, you’d pierced your own ears before so you just did it again. And when you’d shown the boys they’d said you looked nice but they just didn’t appreciate jewelry like you did. Though you could see the piglins certainly did, but that was probably just because they were gold. But it was nice to have someone like them regardless.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You were appreciating the gold rings on one piglin’s tusks (and idly wondering if you’d be able to do the same for your antlers?) when suddenly you heard Tommy start shrieking. And not his usual angry shriek but instead one that was full of panic and fear. You jolted when you heard him yelling Tubbo’s name frantically, sprinting towards their cries without even saying a parting goodbye to the nice piglin you’d been standing with. Which was good because without wasting time with pleasantries you were able to find Tubbo and Tommy fairly quickly. Only downside was when you found them it was with them backed against a wall in the crimson forest with nowhere to run with a very angry hoglin ramming its huge tusks against Tubbo’s rapidly breaking shield, Tommy right behind him, both screeching and cursing at each other.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You didn’t even think as you charged at the hoglin. When you got up behind it you acted on pure instinct, desperate to get it away from the two screaming kids. So you grabbed its hind leg and yanked it back, momentarily shocked at how easy it was to do so. But you couldn’t worry about that right now. You pulled the hoglin back then swung it around before tossing it a few yards back. It landed with a heavy THUD, clearly taking damage, squealing in anger as it got back up and shook itself off. Though it snorted angrily it didn’t try to attack you but instead tried to go around you to reach the two boys. But you didn’t give it the chance before you were literally grabbing it by the tusks and spinning your body around before slamming the hoglin into one of the nearby tree sized crimson fungus. It smashed through the trunk, destroying two blocks in the process. The hoglin lay crumpled on the ground, weakly trying to stand only to die shortly after when you stomped on its neck.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It disappeared with a small ‘poof’, leaving behind a hide and some raw pork. You grabbed them up before walking over to the stunned teenage boys by the wall. You started checking them over to see if they’d taken any damage and then once you were sure they were okay you started asking them why on earth they’d come to the nether without shields and weapons! Tubbo said his sword had had lower durability than he’d thought and it broke when he was fighting off the hoglin! And Tommy shamefully admitted to having his sword but… dropping his shield when they were climbing across the crimson fungus. Then he’d apparently fallen and gotten surprised by the hoglin, who had done a good chunk of damage to him before Tubbo jumped down (taking damage in the process) to try and help him. All in all the two looked super embarrassed. You just shook your head and said they were idiots, but you were glad they were alive. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>While you grabbed two shields and a sword from your inventory Tommy went nuts, saying that was the coolest shit he’d ever seen anyone do ever! You gave him an amused look and asked what he meant. The killing the hoglin thing? He’d never seen someone kill a pig? He gawped at you and yelled out that NO he’d seen people kill hoglins, but he’d never seen anyone basically fight one with their bare hands! Tubbo cut in and added ‘and live!’ to the blond’s statement, which Tommy nodded along with. You just rolled your eyes and handed them the shields and Tubbo the sword before calling them silly for getting so worked up over you killing a hoglin. Then before they could rant more you pulled them both into a gentle side hug and sighed,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re both okay though, you scared me back there. I don’t want either of you getting hurt. So please be more careful, okay? For me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two boys softened at that and each timidly wrapped an arm around you, feeling bad they’d worried you but… oddly happy that you cared enough to even BE worried. Which was a weird train of thought for them. Neither had any parents save for Philza, and he was mostly just a loose dad figure. He was a good guy and helped care for them but he also believed in letting them figure stuff out on their own and didn’t really offer help unless they asked for it. But you felt different. They’d only known you for a few weeks but it felt like longer. They felt safe with you in your village and yeah you had your rules but they strangely didn’t mind following them. It made you happy and when you were happy they were happy too.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Though the touching moment was brought to a sudden halt when Tommy suddenly shrieked. You and the boys looked down to see a baby hogling ramming its tusks against the blond boy’s ankles. You laughed and reached down before smacking it on the haunch, causing it to squeal in shock and run away. Tommy grumbled and cursed the small thing, making you and Tubbo snicker. But then you asked them what they needed from the Nether. Turns out they needed blaze rods and were going to loot a nether fortress. You said that sounded dangerous and asked them if they had any food to restore their health or even fire resistance potions. And well they had food so, not a total facepalm moment. But then they asked you where your weapon was, and your shield! Did YOU have food or fire resistance potions? You blinked and said you’re sure you had some of that stuff yeah.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They pestered you until you pulled out your enchanted axe and shield. You didn’t really need the shield you didn’t think but it seemed to put the two boys at ease so you carried it as you followed them through the nether. Idly you made sure to leave a trail of cobblestone behind you all, so you’d know where you’d come from and could find your way back easier. And it turns out that was a smart move because you all walked a long way, through at least 4 different biomes, before you stumbled across a nether fortress. Said structure loomed over you three, looking utterly massive and low key intimidating. You squinted and told the two boys you could see a couple zombie piglins and wither skeletons up on the landings walking around. Tommy groaned and said the wither skeletons were a pain in the ass but knocking them off the edge was pretty easy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the evening was spent following the two around the nether fortress, helping them collect potion ingredients and fend off mobs. And to your utter shock you three had discovered that you just… didn’t take fire damage! Like, at all. You’d been busy helping them knock back a couple wither skeletons when unbeknownst to you three a blaze had approached and shot fireballs at you, hitting you square in the back. You honestly hadn’t even noticed, being too busy with helping Tommy fend off a skeleton. It was only after you knocked them all off and Tubbo yelped about you burning did you pause and ask what he was going on about. You understood when he screamed that you were on fire. And yeah, when you looked down you actually were. But it… didn’t hurt? It wasn’t even burning you or your clothes. You just blinked stupidly before simply patting it out. As you three stood there silently it seemed Tommy became fed up as he shouted,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Which just made you start laughing your ass off, only able to offer him a shrug because honestly you didn’t even know yourself at this point. Tubbo started giggling as well which eventually got Tommy to crack a smile before he broke out into laughter too. You all finished laughing and Tubbo suggested that maybe it was a fluke? Tommy nodded and said maybe you just got lucky or were in shock or something? Though that was disproved when you checked yourself and your skin and clothes were totally fine, no burns at all. Tubbo grinned and suggested testing it. You raised an eyebrow and he pulled out a flint and steel before lighting a patch of the ground on fire. Tommy’s eyes were wide but he was grinning and looking at you, probably wondering if you were actually going to do it. You were anxious, because all your previous life experience told you ‘fire bad’ but… you were curious too.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So you stuck one foot into the fire. And… nothing. It felt warm for sure. Sort of like if you stuck your hand in front of a space heater. Very warm but it didn’t hurt. So you just stepped into the fire and it crawled up your skin until it was licking at your face. But you were totally fine. Tommy and Tubbo laughed incredulously, with the blond saying this whole thing was fucking insane. He asked if you were sure you hadn’t drank any fire resistance potions? You shook your head no and Tubbo pointed out that surely they would have seen the potion particles if that were the case. Tommy hummed but agreed before saying that despite this all being neat and shit that they still had the rest of the fortress to scavenge. Tubbo followed him with you leading the rear and on your way inside the brunet laughingly said he was going to use you as a blaze shield. You just gave a fake offended gasp and just said, “Rude.” which made both boys snicker.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>True to their word they’d used you like a human shield. But since you took no damage you just rolled with it, actually finding all of this pretty amusing by now. And after you’d all gathered more than enough blaze rods you’d separated from them for a bit. Mostly just sticking around the sand path that led back to the portal while they searched the rest of the fortress for nether wart and mined for glowstone dust. And while they did that you sat on a block of sand and pulled out some food to eat, mostly out of boredom than from any real desire to satiate any hunger. But while you were munching on a golden carrot a little piglin child came up to you to admire your golden jewelry. You smiled down at them, inwardly cooing over how adorable they were with their little baby tusks. And you almost died when they let out a happy squeal when you offered them a chunk of your golden carrot. You’re not sure how long you sat there with the baby piglin but after eating a couple carrots together you placed down another block of sand before using your finger to draw pictures in the sand, much to the child’s delight. They copied you and started drawing pictures too. Most of which you couldn’t recognize but they were still cute.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“OI! Reader! C’mon, we’re done!!” yelled the blond boy from up the path a ways. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The baby piglin snorted in distrust and hid a bit behind the sand block, showing they didn’t really trust the two players. You chuckled and said you were coming to the two boys before standing up and dusting yourself off. Then you glanced down at the tiny little piglin and smiled before pulling a gold ingot from your inventory. The baby piglin snorted enviously then squealed loudly when you handed them the ingot. They couldn’t take their wide eyes off of it, making you giggle at how precious they were. But sadly you had to go so you gently patted their head and said goodbye. They managed to tear their eyes away from the gold to snort sadly as you left. Part of you felt bad but the bigger part knew they couldn’t follow you to the Overworld..</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After leaving the Nether you broke the portal, not wanting to risk any nether creatures accidentally stumbling through and getting hurt. And with a glance around you saw it was getting late. To the point where Tubbo and Tommy would have to rush to get back to their houses before night fell. So you saw them off, giving them some food for the trip and even giving them another hug goodbye. One you noticed they relaxed into faster than before. Then they were off, calling out goodbyes and saying they’d be back either tomorrow or the next day. You waved bye and said you looked forward to it, calling out your usual ‘be careful!’ before you couldn’t see them anymore. You frowned a little. Despite them having armor and weapons you still worried about them travelling alone at night after they visited you. You think next time you’ll walk them home. Just to make sure they were safe.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Nether Here Nor There</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You get a brief visit from your goat child, he teaches you a new trick, and then you visit the Nether.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I FORGOT TO ADD THAT I GOT FANART!!! IM SO DUMB!!</p>
<p>The amazing 'YeetUsFeTUSDelETusss' on DA was so cool and drew two pictures to bless our eyes!!</p>
<p>
  <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/yeetusfetusdeletusss/art/thing1-871643403">READER HERSELF!</a>
</p>
<p>
  <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/yeetusfetusdeletusss/art/thing2-872814279">READER PROTECTING HER BOYS!</a>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Only Tubbo showed up the next day, and he said he sadly couldn’t stay for long because him and Tommy were needed back at L’manburg for a while. Meaning him and Tommy wouldn’t be able to visit for a bit, but they’d try to visit as soon as possible! Hearing they’d not come see you for who knows how long made you pretty sad. You honestly looked forward to when they’d visit. It was honestly the highlight of your day. But you knew whatever nonsense was going on in L’manburg currently would need their attention. Though you wondered what exactly was going on. You recalled a decent amount of the ‘history’ of the Dream SMP but you knew you could be misremembering or even mixing things up. But you did remember the big things that happened. Like the wars and stuff. So needless to say you were concerned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What point in history am I in right now? Whenever it is, L’manburg is apparently still standing,’ you thought pensively before asking Tubbo what was going on that they’d need to stay in L’manburg.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo sighed and said it was ‘just some drama’ but apparently their, meaning his and Tommy’s, older brother figure Wilbur had been president of L’manburg for the entirety of the time L’manburg had existed. But some new citizens who joined them found out he’d not been properly elected and didn’t think it was fair to everyone that Wilbur had basically just made himself president without any input from everyone else. Which you could see was not right but this information told you that you were in the pre-election time. Which meant Schlatt and Quackity hadn’t won yet… But that hinged on this universe even being the same one that you’d watched on youtube. Things could be different here for all you knew. You’d always believed in the multiverse theory so who was to know WHICH universe this was. Or how you even got here. All you could do really was to just… wait and watch.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A couple hours passed during the short visit and towards the end Tubbo showed you how to message others, ie; him and Tommy mostly. You’d known how to message others and put in commands and stuff in regular minecraft but you’d just sort of never thought to try those things here in this place. Though to be fair you’d been dealing with a lot of stuff so fiddling with your inventory and everything hadn’t been your top priority. And when he’d mentioned messaging him your first thought had been ‘how?’, because this was a ‘real life’ minecraft, where things were very similar but not always exactly like how it was in the real game. The biggest difference being that there was no computer keyboard or ‘screen’ for the type/chat option to be at the bottom of like in the game.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But to your surprise the place to type in a message was actually IN your inventory. More specifically it was at the very bottom of the main section right below where your items were stored in the hot bar. You’d never paid the long ultra thin box at the bottom any mind, assuming it was just part of the weird design. But no, Tubbo showed you with his inventory how if you tap on the thin box (that you’d honestly thought was just a line) it expands into a typing window! Your eyes widened at that and watched as he tapped the typing box again and a little keyboard appeared below the typing box and he started typing something into it. You squinted and he said to message someone you needed to be sure to type ‘/msg’ and then whoever’s name you’d like to send the message to!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He demonstrated this by typing out the first part then right after it typing your ‘name’; aka Reader. Briefly you wondered why it had been made that but you brushed that thought away to focus on what Tubbo was doing. You saw him type ‘hi reader!!’ before hitting Enter. Then a second later you heard a soft ‘ping!’ sound and you just KNEW your inventory was waiting to be pulled up. Like knew in an instinctual sense. Like how you knew to blink or how to walk. Just an instinct you couldn’t explain so you brought it up and there at the bottom the ‘line’ was flashing a pale red. So you did what Tubbo had done and tapped it, revealing the little typing box. Only this time it had a message in it! It said, <em> ‘Tubbo whispers to you: hi reader!!’ </em> and you smile. Excited now you type out a message to him and hit send. He got it and laughed after he read it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> ‘Reader whispered to you: hello my little goat boy!! :)’ </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After that he blinked when more messages popped onto his text box. These were from Tommy and Wilbur it looked like. With a sigh he checked his clock and dismissed his chat box before saying he was sorry but he had to get going. He’d actually stayed longer than he was supposed to. You were sad to see him go but knew he’d be back, and hey, now you could message him and Tommy to make sure they got back to L’manburg safe instead of just wondering like before. So you told him to be careful on his way back and to message you that he was safe home when he arrived, and also if he needed any help. He laughed and cheekily said he would but gave a shy smile when you pulled him into a hug and gently knocked your antlers with his horns, but he happily returned it. Not so secretly enjoying the affection. But he had to pull back and leave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That left you to your own devices.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With nothing better to do you initially spent the next three days building a couple fountains in the village (which was getting pretty big..). One tiny frog shaped one in the little grotto at the west side of the village and a much larger more traditional one in the opposite side of the village. You’d even set up park benches, flower plots, lamp posts, and stone sidewalk around the bigger one. It was very pretty and the villagers seemed to be enjoying it. But after that was done you’d sorta gotten bored. You weren’t really inspired to do anything else to the village so you thought of ways to occupy yourself. Eventually a metaphorical lightbulb flickered to life above your head and you got an idea. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You could go to the Nether! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sure you weren’t the biggest fan of the place but it beat sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for a reply from your only two friends like some loser. And hey, you liked giving piglins gold. They made cute little piggy snorts when they were happy. So with that loose plan in mind you got up from where you’d been lounging by the creek and brushed yourself off before heading out to the place outside the bamboo and prickle berry wall you’d placed the first Nether portal. You crafted one real quick before tensing up when you heard the sound of rustling behind you. Assuming it was a creeper or something you glanced back, not that it would hurt you but you still found it unsettling for anything to be sneaking up behind you. You caught a brief glimpse of something small and white disappearing into a cluster of ferns. You paused, wondering what it was but then about a block to the left of the ferns a chicken and her chick walked out from around a tree. ‘Oh, must have just been a baby chicken’, you thought with a mental shrug before turning back to your task of lighting the portal with your flint and steel.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once activated you stepped into the purple swirling mist and your vision warped before you ended up in the Nether again, stifling heat and all. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d been exploring the Nether for what felt like hours. The place was goddamn enormous! You’d followed the same sand block trail from the last time you’d been here, seeing the piglins and a few striders along the way. And to your delight a familiar little piglin baby started following you. She (you think she’s a ‘she’, that’s the vibe you’re getting anyways) had to be the one you’d played with the last time you’d been in the Nether. You crouched down and patted her head and pulled a golden carrot from your inventory before gifting it to her. She squealed happily and munched on it. You kept walking along the sand path before reaching the fortress. That’s when you diverted your path to the right and started exploring that way, careful to keep laying down sand as you did. You thought the baby piglin had stayed back but after a while of walking you heard a soft snort and glanced down to the left of you to see her happily trotting along with you, still nibbling on the golden carrot.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You wanted to melt, she was such a cutie pie. You stopped and asked if she should be travelling so far away. Won’t her parents miss her? She blinks and seems to understand you before shaking her head ‘no’. You figure she must have some pretty lenient parents. But you suppose piglins are sturdier than humans so it makes sense they’d keep their kids on a looser leash than humans would. So you ask her where her parents are and if they’d be okay with her wandering off with you, a stranger. She tilts her head and shrugs. You purse your lips and ask if she can take you to her parents so you can ask if they’d be okay with it. This time she shakes his head no. So you ask her why and she seems to be thinking how to answer before she goes over to the closest block of sand and starts drawing in it. You look over her shoulder and see her drawing three hearts. Then your stomach sinks when you see her draw an ‘X’ over each heart, meaning one thing..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh sweetie, did your parents lose all their lives?” you ask in a gentle tone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The tiny piglin nodded and your heart broke for her. You asked some more questions and discovered she wasn’t really being taken care of by any one piglin. The other piglins knew her parents were gone so they’d sorta chip in to make sure she had food. But that was really it. This made you feel worse so you just sighed and patted her head and said she could join you while you explored the Nether. She snorted happily and you two continued on your way. Eventually after walking for a bit you came across a warped forest. You had to admit the biome was much prettier in person. The stark contrast between the Nether’s usual red color scheme and the teal of the warped forest was really beautiful. Even the weird little green/orange fungus that were growing everywhere were cute. You even picked a handful to keep, placing them in your inventory before continuing your little jaunt with the baby piglin. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>That last thought made you mentally pause and realize that you couldn’t just keep calling this kid ‘baby piglin’. So you stopped walking and looked down before saying you forgot to introduce yourself. She could call you Reader (since that’s what your little name thing said..). Then you asked what her name was. She blinked before snorting a little, like she was clearing her throat, and said, “Azogamay.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You smiled and said you liked her name, making her give a cute little tusked smile. Then as you continued exploring you both made small talk. Nothing deep (how deep could conversation get with a little kid) but you asked each other the usual questions. Like favorite foods, favorite colors, favorite animals, etc. Then Azo (you’d taken to shortening her name to make it easier) answered one of your questions with some gibberish that made you pause. You glanced down at her and gave a ‘huh?’ that made her giggle before apparently remembering you weren’t a piglin. She said she forgot and spoke Piglin. That made you raise your eyebrows because you’d never thought about other species in the game having their own language. But now that you were thinking about it, it totally made sense. Of course they would, duh. Now very curious you asked her to teach you a little! Like did she know how your name would be said in Piglin? Her answer surprised you…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Eaderray!” she said in her quiet baby voice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now you two had entered a wide soul sand valley, which made Azo anxious. She hid behind your leg, making you recall that Piglins didn’t really spawn in this biome or like soul fire (which is super common here). You had to admit the place was rather creepy. It didn’t help that the soul sand beneath your feet was emitting a rather creepy whispery wail. So you decided to turn back and try another direction. Azo seemed relieved and trotted along behind you. But once you were walking again you remembered your last thought and had a vague feeling about this ‘piglin speak’ and wanted to hear more. So you asked Azo some other words, just to test this theory of yours. And well…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Skeleton? Eletonskay…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Blaze? Azeblay…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Strider? Iderstray…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lava? Avalay...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Gold? ...Oldgay (that may have made you snicker).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But you got the idea and honestly you cannot be held accountable for your reaction after you realized Piglins honest to fucking god spoke PIG LATIN.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You lost it. You laughed so hard you doubled over and had to brace your hands on your knees to keep from collapsing onto the ground. Azo didn’t know what was so funny but your laughter was contagious and she ended up laughing too, intermixed with little snorts that made you laugh even harder. It was a whole cycle. And by the end of it you’d laughed so hard you started coughing and had to sit down to catch your breath. The giggles returned a couple times but eventually you got control over yourself enough to be able to breathe normally again. As you sat there, little Azo looking up at you in amusement, you couldn’t believe the absolute batshit nonsense that was happening in your life right now. But out of everything that had happened, you think finding out Piglins spoke pig latin had to be the funniest. Though you wanted to test your theory further so you said to Azo,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ellohay Azogamay, isyay isthay ightray?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Azo’s eyes brightened and she perked up, looking close to bouncing from excitement as she realized you were speaking ‘Piglin’ to her. She started babbling at the speed of light, in a way that all excited toddlers seemed to be able to do. While it was cute enough to pull a chuckle from you the downside was that you could not understand a single word Azo said. You got her to slow down, telling her you didn’t speak Piglin fluently so she would have to go slow with you otherwise you’d be lost. She nodded, just happy that you could understand Piglin. So she slowed down a lot and chatted with you that way. And that’s pretty much how the rest of your time in the Nether went. You traversed through the hellish dimension and brushed up on your pig latin with the little piglin. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It has definitely been a LONG time since you’d even thought about the made up ‘language’. You’d had a friend in elementary school who had been Obsessed with it. It was all they spoke sometimes and they’d talked it up so much that it caught on with the rest of the class, yourself included, and soon everyone was using it to write notes to each other, like a secret language. You’d even speak to each other only in pig latin during recess and lunch breaks. You’d been fluent in it and didn’t even have to think before speaking. Though after a year it had lost its popularity and everyone slowly stopped using it since the fad was over. But you still remembered a good deal of it. Enough to speak it slowly anyways. But the more you used it the easier it was to speak it. It was like riding a bike you supposed, you never truly forgot it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Things were going fine until they weren’t. You’d stopped to have lunch in a crimson forest, more for Azo’s benefit than your own, and were sitting and eating for a while before Azo started playing with a baby hoglin. Which had been fine, you’d seen baby piglins and hoglins do that in the game before, no biggie. But they’d gotten rambunctious the way kids do when they’re playing together. And while chasing each other around Azo had smacked into one of the adult hoglins, which had pissed it off enough for it to snarl angrily and start chasing Azo. And Azo in turn began squealing in fear while running away. You’d dropped the steak you’d been idly munching on and sprinted after the two. Sadly the hoglin was closer to Azo than you and managed to get one good hit in with its tusks, the force behind it practically yeeting Azo up into the air. You yelled in horror as you watched the baby piglin fall down into a lava filled ravine. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Panic flooded your body, you knew zombie piglins were fireproof but regular piglins were not as far as you knew. Let alone baby piglins who just took a direct hit from a damn hoglin. So without thinking about it you dove into the ravine after Azo, catching her in your arms and fully planning to hold her up above the lava since it wouldn’t hurt you. Once she was in your arms you jerked back instinctively, not sure why, just maybe bracing for the impact with the lava. You waited but… nothing. About that second you realized that you weren’t moving anymore. You’d come to a halt and at first you wondered if maybe you’d landed on a block and not noticed. But… one glance down revealed you were not in fact standing on a block. Actually you weren’t standing on anything. You were hovering about 3 or 4 blocks above the bubbling lava at the bottom of the ravine. You were so stunned that you almost missed the sniffling snorts that started up next to your face but thankfully they broke you out of your shocked state. You looked at Azo and your heart broke when you saw her tearing up and looking close to crying. Forgetting momentarily about whatever the fuck was going on with you floating you focused on soothing her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Aw sweetie, are you okay? You took a hit from that hoglin, where does it hurt?” you cooed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She was babbling mostly, being too upset to try to speak English. And understanding crying pig latin was almost impossible. So you just asked her to point where it hurt. She reached for her back and side and you softly told her you were going to lift her shirt a little bit to see if there was a mark, and she nodded shakily and sniffled while you did. You winced at the blooming bruise and adjusted her so you were basically cradling her and with your free hand you opened your inventory and started looking through the potions. You grabbed a healing potion and uncorked it before offering it to Azo, whose snout wrinkled at the potion. You told her it was alright, it was a healing potion that would make her feel better and get rid of those bruises for her. She still looked unsure but still let you raise the mouth of the potion bottle to her lips so she could sip it. She took a few sips before hiccuping, potion swirls wafting off of her after she did. The baby piglin blinked and felt the pain in her back and side start to disappear. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You smiled and said that must feel better, Azo nodded and was happy she wasn’t hurting anymore. You let her take one more sip for good measure before putting the cork back into the bottle and stashing it in your inventory. But once that was done you were reminded of your current predicament. You were still floating in place above a ravine of lava.. With zero clue on how to move too. Briefly you internally panicked at the thought of just.. never being able to move again!! Being stuck fixed in one spot forever with no way to get down or live freely! Though before you could panic further you took a deep breath and told yourself to relax. This wasn’t permanent, it couldn’t be. There logically has to be a way for you to move. You got yourself stuck here and you’ll get yourself down as well.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And the last thing you wanted was to look scared with Azo here with you. She was just a little kid and needed the only adult around to be strong for her. So you put on a smile and reassured her that things will be okay and you’ll figure out how to get them both safe on land in no time. Azo nodded, looking less worried than before. So you started trying things you think would get you to move. You could move your limbs no problem. Proven by how you could move Azo around with your arms and kick your legs about without issue. But your body as a whole was still locked in place. Though when you leaned your upper body to the left you hit a breakthrough! Tilting your torso to the left managed to move your whole body to the left by about a block and a half! Now onto the right path you started leaning your torso this way and that, figuring out what movements actually got you moving and which ones didn’t. Figuring out how to move side to side and forwards and back was pretty easy. But it was figuring out up and down that was tricky. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>At the moment going down was the last thing you were interested in, what with the lava beneath you. So you tried focusing on going up, and after a lot more wiggling about that you were sure made you look like an idiot to anyone who could be watching (Azo only giggled a little) you finally figured out that to go up you had to tense and stretch your torso a specific way. Like exactly how you would do if you were trying to reach something on the top shelf, only you didn’t have to move your arms or legs the same way, just your torso. Like how people straighten themselves to seem taller, not slouching at all. After getting that down you manage to go up and then over out of the ravine. Which was a relief and a half. Now that the threat of sinking into lava wasn’t a worry you instead fixated on getting down. Thanks to figuring out how to get up you had an easier time getting the hang of getting down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once your feet touched the ground the floating thing disappeared and gravity was restored to you, making you able to walk around normally again. You gave a small cheer, Azo snorting happily as you carried her back to your spot on one of the crimson mushroom tree tops. Once seated you let out a breath and felt your shoulders relax. You hadn’t even been aware they’d been so tense, but you guess it made sense what with how you just sorta had a weird physics related mishap. But now that you and little Azo were safe you felt like you could breathe again. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You took a golden apple out of your inventory and took a bite, the sweet juice soothing your metaphorical ruffled feathers. You noticed you mostly just eat for the taste now. Which was fine you guessed. When you glanced down you held the apple close to Azo’s face, asking in semi-good piglin if she wanted a bite, chuckling when she eagerly sunk her little teeth into the sweet fruity flesh of it. You gave her the rest and just watched the other Nether inhabitants mill about peacefully. Today had been a wild ride for sure. At least compared to your usual peaceful days. You leaned back against the lump of red fungus behind you, Azo cradled in your arms, and sighed calmly. You’d been ready to rest your eyes when you heard a soft ‘ping!’ that had you blinking back into focus. It was your communicator app thing. Thinking it was just Tubbo messaging you to say goodnight or something you casually opened the message. But when you did you raised an eyebrow at the note from your kid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> ‘Tubbo whispers to you: the election is tomorrow afternoon, can you come?  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> ‘Tubbo whispers to you: i’ve got a bad feeling.. i’m not trying to pull you into our mess’ </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> ‘Tubbo whispers to you: but idk i’d feel better if you were there.’ </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You had a bad feeling too… You hoped what you likely knew was going to happen DIDN’T happen but.. it probably was. So you sent back a quick reply to Tubbo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> ‘You whisper to Tubbo: of course I will! you can show me around your home! :) </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You tried to keep your reply upbeat and happy, not wanting to feed into the teenager’s worry. Even though you were probably more worried now that he was. But regardless.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It looked like you were visiting L’manburg. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. L'manburg At Last</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You finally see L'manburg and meet the infamous Wilbur Soot, president.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’d been watching her for some time now. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not all day and night like some weirdo but he’d noticed instantly when she’d ‘logged on’ so to speak. The first thing to make him curious was him wondering how she arrived here in the first place, but when he tried teleporting to this new person it strangely hadn’t worked. He’d simply not gone anywhere, which was beyond puzzling. He should be able to teleport to anyone on this server. That little tidbit, the not being able to teleport to her, was the second thing to make him curious. So curious in fact that he spent a very long time just looking for her. When the ability to teleport to her was no longer an option he’d found searching for someone was much harder, but in the end he’d found her. And good lord was she a big one. Not taller than endermen or anything bigger but she definitely towered over the villagers she lived with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t know how she ended up here since you needed an invite to be allowed on the server. And he knows she wasn’t invited, because he knows ALL the people who are invited. Hell, at one point he even tried banning her (an action which kicks players from the server) but… nothing had happened. He’d been hidden and watching her when he’d done it and she’d not even noticed, just kept on planting flowers around one of the villager’s houses without a care in the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d unbanned her and nothing changed again. Then he’d tried using other commands on her. Teleport, clear, give, and even Kill. Not a single one did anything. That made him nervous. He’d never encountered something like this before. It was unheard of. If this player decided to become hostile, or End forbid, GENOCIDAL… it would have very disastrous consequences for the other players on the server..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He decided then and there to monitor her deeply until further notice. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Which turned into him popping up by her village and sneaking in to watch her and what she did day in and day out for a few months. And honestly.. She seemed pretty benign. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>All she really did was change up the village she lived in and decorate. When not doing those things she would do other hobbies like cooking and potion making. She’d also leave the village sometimes to just explore. He took those chances to go inside her home and snoop around. He also noticed aggressive mobs were pretty neutral towards her for whatever reason. That only ever happened if a player had a clear relation to a mob (aka a hybrid) or if the player had creative… Which it looked like she had. But she also didn’t look fully human.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What a strange being you are..”</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>Before you knew it the next day had come, bright and early. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You’d had to go back to the Overworld around sunrise to get ready to greet Tubbo. You’d explained to Azo that you’d try to come back as soon as you could but for now you had to go on a trip for a while. She was sad to see you go but said okay and to hurry back. Your heart broke all over again, feeling terrible that you had to leave her alone but there was nothing you could do. You’d bring her with you if it were possible but you knew her entering the Overworld would turn her into a zombie instantly. And that’s not a fate you’re willing to make anyone go through.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But you left her a chest with some golden carrots, some apples, and even some of the stew you’d made for Tubbo and Tommy. She liked the stew, so you left her a few bowls and even some juice to drink in case she got thirsty. You hugged her goodbye and told her you’d bring her a gift back. She nodded happily and then you sadly had to leave through the portal. Which you made sure to destroy after exiting it. Didn’t want anything wandering through. That would be a disaster. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once you were back in the overworld you went home and sat on your bed and just thought. More than anything you just wanted to step in and prevent Schlatt and Quackity from winning. But you didn’t know if doing that would have dangerous consequences or not. You’d seen so many movies where a small change in the past ends up having massive effects in the future. Damn butterfly effects. Stopping them from winning the election could end up causing a civil war within L’manburg. Or Tubbo, Tommy, or Wilbur could end up hurt or even lose a life. Or something even more devastating could happen. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>...But you hated the thought of Tommy and Wilbur getting exiled. It wasn’t fair or just. Especially while getting shot at and chased down like dogs. Schlatt and Quackity really pissed you off with that part. Seeing Ponk and Punz just instantly turn on the two original founders left you feeling utterly appalled. Schlatt hadn’t even been sworn in as president yet! He’d not taken an oath or anything! None of what he ‘decreed’ should have been taken as law! None of it was legal-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You pause. None of that WAS legal.. right? Did the citizens even know that? Were they aware that simply winning an election wasn’t the instant inauguration that Schlatt and Quackity made it out to be? Surely there was more to L’manburg than simply the bare bones parts that were shown on youtube in your original world. There had to be actual systemic structure for this whole ass small country. You wanted to believe there was, because the alternative made you facepalm. But at this point you honestly just didn’t know. You would need to have a discussion with Wilbur and Tommy (Wilbur more so since he was the adult in this situation).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You needed to talk to Wilbur asap.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo and Tommy came to get you bright and early, the blond looking more anxious than he was trying to let on. Seeing the usually so upbeat and grinning boy so nervous made your stomach churn. So you’d pulled him into a hug, not even letting him finish his greeting to you before you did. He went silent and was tense at first. But you took in a breath and said in as reassuring a tone as you could physically muster,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t worry kiddo. Things WILL be okay. I’ll make sure of it, alright?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy was silent, but you could hear the choked gasp of breath the boy took in, and you felt how his lanky body seemed to relax in your hold. He awkwardly put his arms around your back, seemingly not used to this, the whole hugging thing. At least not such heartfelt ones. He’s hugged Tubbo, Wilbur, and Philza but this one just felt different. It felt safer. Like if he stayed here nothing could hurt him. It was weird but.. nice. Part of the boy didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want to leave this new safe place. Here hugging you there was no fear of losing the election, no worries of wars with the DSMP, there was nothing bad. Just a pleasant warmth he felt like he could just fall asleep to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the bigger part of him knew he’d never hide away from his problems. It wasn’t who he was. He wasn’t some baby coward who hid behind mommy for protection when shit got tough. (missing how his subconscious referred to you as ‘mom’) He was a MAN! Nevermind he was barely 16! He was practically an adult (in his own eyes)! He’d fought in a war for independence! He’d battled for his and his countrymen’s freedom! There’s no way he’d cower away from this damned election! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>With a new fire in him, largely in part to the confidence you seemed to have for him and L’manburg, he eventually pulled back from the hug and gave you one of his signature bright grins. He said thanks but there’s no way he was worrying! Like you said, things were gonna be fine! You gave him an encouraging smile in return and agreed, then added that if anything DID go wrong you’d stick by them and make sure it all got resolved. The teens looked grateful for your support. But then you bid the villagers goodbye for now and told the iron golems to make sure to keep them all safe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then you three were off to L’manburg.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Walking into L’manburg was weird. You’d only ever seen parts of it via the videos you’d watched from the various minecraft youtubers. But being there in person was wild, seeing all the buildings and pathways was interesting though. Tommy and Tubbo changed into their ‘presidential attire’, which were just those vaguely old school British military uniforms they wore at the start of the L’manburg thing. You still ruffled their hair and cooed over them, saying they looked like official little men. They got all huffy and Tommy swatted your hand away, making you laugh. Tubbo suggested showing you around before the election began, which you thought was a good idea. So the pair escorted you around L’manburg, showing you the main places plus their houses and favorite spots. You gave Tommy a Look and asked him if he really lived in a dirt hut.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s DIRT Tommy, not even cobblestone. Just a dirty dirt hut,” you said with a sigh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo snickered while Tommy tried defending himself. But he honestly was just making excuses though thankfully he got cut off by Wilbur showing up. He was in the same uniform as both teenagers and you saw him giving you a wide eyed look as he walked up. You could tell he was used to not being around someone so much taller than him. Which you guess made sense since he’d been hanging out with teenagers, a girl, and his own son mostly. You think Dream is taller than him but you don’t know how often they’re around each other peacefully to notice height..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, hello, you must be Reader! Tommy and Tubbo have told me about you!” the brunet man said with a charming smile. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You returned the smile and held your hand out for him to shake. He gave a firm handshake and you said he must be Wilbur and that the boys had mentioned him to you. He gave a sly smile to the two boys and asked if that was so, and said he hoped they’d said good things about him. Not liking his teasing tone Tommy cut in and said he told you about Wilbur being a bitch! You laughed and Wilbur punched Tommy in the shoulder, laughing when the boy loudly claimed he was abusing a child!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wilbur rolled his eyes at the blond boy and asked what the occasion for you visiting his lovely country was. You gave a relaxed smile and said you just wanted to come out and support ‘big man’ and Tubbo on this exciting day! Wilbur smiled and perked up when Tubbo said they were giving you a tour of L’manburg. Wilbur asked why the shortest boy didn’t say so before and gestured for you to follow him, saying the best person to give a tour is always the president! You liked his charming enthusiasm but you could still see the nervousness just lurking under the surface for all three of them. You hated that their worry was justified. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wilbur took over showing you around, Tubbo and Tommy right behind him adding little comments here and there to irk him. You ohh’d and ahh’d at the polite times, even saying how cool the place was. You even got shown Wilbur’s ‘ball house’ and their extensive nether pathways briefly. You got a bit distracted in the Nether, wondering if Azo was okay. Though you supposed she was a tough kid, what with having survived in the Nether her whole life so far. But she was just a little kid, still a toddler. She shouldn’t have to survive. She should be living.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And I guess that’s the whole tour! I hope we’ve given you a good impression of my country~” Wilbur said with a smile, thoroughly snapping your attention back to the present.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You were thankful they couldn’t see how your eyes widened when you realized you’d totally zoned out during the last leg of the tour. Instead of worrying you just gushed and said you’d been really dazzled! The trio grinned and you ruffled Tommy’s hair and said you could expect no less from the big man himself and sweet Tubbo. The pair were happy to hear you praising the country they’d worked so hard to have, with Tommy even playfully swatting your hand away from your hair and saying anything he helped with would be the best. Wilbur gave a very big brother reply of ‘oh really?’ that was dripping with doubt, which started to set Tommy off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two started going back and forth, causing you to roll your eyes. Yeah they definitely had the brother vibe about them. Though Wilbur lost interest in arguing when he spotted someone a bit aways behind you and Tommy. He perked up and waved, calling out ‘FUNDY!’ to get his son’s attention. You all glanced over to see a fox hybrid in a uniform that was the same as the boys around you, only the coloring was off. Fundy’s was more pastel colored while the others were darker/more saturated. Wilbur waved him over and you noticed the way Fundy’s muzzle scrunched up when Wilbur threw an arm around his shoulders, but you said nothing. Not really your place but from what you remember of the smp videos… Wilbur wasn’t the ideal father figure to his furry son..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Fundy, this is Reader! She’s a friend of Tubbo and Tommy’s! She came to support us today,” Wilbur said with a smile.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The fox quirked an eyebrow at you and asked a mildly incredulous voice if your name was actually ‘Reader’. Tommy told him to shut up and pointed out that his name was ‘Fundy’ so he had no room to be criticizing anybody’s name. Fundy raised his paws in surrender and said fine, whatever, no need to jump down his throat about it. You chuckled and said it was okay, it was a rather odd name. And you liked his name, it was cool. Tommy actually boo’d you while Fundy smiled, glad at least someone stuck up for him. Though that reminded Fundy to ask Wilbur if he’d seen the ballots…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wilbur’s mood darkened and he gave a clipped, “Yeah, I saw them.” His tone making the other L’manburg citizens feel uncomfortable. You spoke up, asking what was wrong with them? Had someone tampered with them or something? Fundy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck and said yes and no. Yes someone had changed them but it wasn’t really ‘tampering’, just altering to fit with the new campaign runners. She gave his upset father a side glance, his triangular shaped ears going back when he saw the way Wilbur’s eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw clenched. Seems the current president was still pissed off that his son and first lady had decided to run against him together..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well we had to change the ballots to include all the people running, and even an ‘other’ option… Yeah,” Fundy said lowly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You couldn’t help the way you raised an eyebrow at that and said, </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Isn’t that just the standard for ballots? Designing ballots to not show all the people their options would just be criminal.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wilbur didn’t seem to like your (in his opinion) unwanted input and said however L’manburg designed their ballots was none of your business anyways, especially since you weren’t even a citizen. You could feel yourself narrowing your eyes at the brunet, though nobody could see it, and replied that you didn’t need to be a citizen to point out that not putting all the names of those running on an ELECTORAL BALLOT was hugely unethical and borderline malicious hindrance to the citizen’s right to free choice. This little snit between you and the current president had dropped the mood low, with the three boys beside you looking more than uncomfortable. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But thankfully Tubbo found his voice and before Wilbur could retort to your statement he turned to you and said the election and debate would be starting soon and that he’d sit in the audience with you. This reminded Wilbur that he needed to practice his speech and debate responses with Tommy so he straightened his posture and adjusted his coat before giving you a faux smile and then telling Tubbo they’d see him afterwards. You kept a polite smile on your face as the four led you to an open part of the village center where a large stage/platform had been built along with seating in front of it. Wilbur jerked his thumb towards the stage and told Tommy to come on and the blond boy said he’d be right there in a moment. The brunet looked put out but nodded and stalked off, leaving the four alone in the audience area.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once he was out of earshot you turned to Tommy and gave him a disbelieving look and said in a hushed tone,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Tommy, you and Wilbur weren’t ACTUALLY planning to tamper with the ballots were you?? That’s insanely unconstitutional! The people of L’manburg have a right to know and be able to choose whichever voting option they want. If they don’t have that option then it’s not a real election, it’s just the illusion of choice.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The blond looked uncomfortable, sweating and avoiding eye lens contact with you. He felt ashamed because… well that HAD been the plan. At least Wilbur told him it had been before Quackity found out. He’d not been sure about the plan but he hadn’t done much to argue with Wilbur either. He’d convinced himself it wasn’t that big of a deal, but seeing how shocked and offended you looked that they’d even thought about doing that made him feel like a bastard. You saw how nervous he looked and sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing softly before reassuring him you weren’t angry.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m not mad at you Tommy, I’m just disappointed that this was something you went along with. You have to know how wrong that was? Imagine you were a regular citizen and you voted in the election but later found out it was all rigged, you’d never had a choice regarding your country like you’d been led to believe. Wouldn’t you feel wronged?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy seemed to deflate at your words but gave a remorseful nod, neither of you noticing that your words seemed to have also struck a chord with both Fundy and Tubbo as well. You gave the blond boy a reassuring smile, saying that part of being a member of government was respecting the people’s choices. Even if you think it’s stupid and wrong. You have to let the people choose for themselves. The ability to choose is sometimes the only difference between merely existing on this bitch of a world and actually Living~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tommy seemed to have taken your words to heart, making you smile at him before pulling him into a half hug and saying sincerely,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m proud of you Tommy, Tubbo too. You’ve both done so much for this country. More than any child should ever have to. I wish more than anything that you’d not HAD to sacrifice and lose so much. But I’ll be here to support you both going forward. I just don’t want either of you doing anything unethical. You’re both better than that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tubbo almost teared up and came over and let his face rest against your side in a show of affection. He’d never had anyone say they were proud of him before and honestly.. he didn’t know how badly he needed to hear it until you said it. Tommy leaned into your hug, close to tearing up like his best friend but he blinked rapidly until the tears faded.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>None of them noticed the envious way Fundy stared at them, feeling jealousy bubble in his stomach at the way you seemed to care for the two boys. He felt childish for feeling that way but he couldn’t help it. You clearly cared about the two in a maternal way, that much was obvious. But you weren’t treating them like babies either. You were respectful and loving at the same time. Fundy wondered if that’s what it was like to have a mother..</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“TOMMY! COME ON! THE RALLY STARTS SOON!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They all broke away when they heard Wilbur yelling down at them from the podium. Tubbo sighed and Tommy straightened his hat before giving a cheeky smile. You told him to go give his best, and no matter what happened you’d be proud. This pumped the blond boy up and he gave a cheer before ruffling Tubbo’s hair and turning to the stage and running up around the side to get to the top, you and the brunet watching him go. That’s when you remembered the fox hybrid that was still standing close by. You offer him a calm smile and say kindly,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, Fundy was it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-0-</p>
<p>tbc..</p>
<p>-0-</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>SOMEONE (xoxoyukixoxo-art-dump on tumblr) DREW HOW THEY ENVISION READER!!! IT'S SO GOOD!<br/>CHECK IT OUT ---&gt;  <a href="https://xoxoyukixoxo-art-dump.tumblr.com/">READER!!!</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I also tried my hand at drawing Reader, though it's not her canon appearance since she doesn't have a 'canon' one. She looks however you imagine her babes!! &lt;3 But here she is, looking fresh! ---&gt;<a href="https://stuff-from-the-void-matron.tumblr.com/post/648431580875997184/tried-to-break-out-of-this-damn-art-block-by">My version of Reader!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Election Accession</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You're in L'manberg, waiting for the results<br/>but decide to impart some wisdom onto the voters,<br/>unaware of the effect it would actually have.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Wilbur did not like this ‘Reader’ person. God she was just as bad as Quackity, coming into L’manberg and making demands and acting like they even HAD a say in HIS country. Now more than ever he wished he’d have just exiled Quackity instead of humoring him with this ridiculous election. There shouldn’t BE an election. HE was the rightful president of this country! He fought and died for this country. Put his blood, sweat, and tears into it! HIM! Not them! </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“-ur?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This whole election thing was a mistake. He should have just listened to his gut.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“ilbur?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But he’d been pressured by everyone to ‘be fair’ or whatever. Nobody knew what was best for L’manberg but HIM. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wilbur!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The curly brunet jolted a bit at the sudden shout to his left, he blinked and felt himself unfurrow his eyebrows before looking over at his vice president. Said teenager was looking at him curiously, eyebrows raised in a questioning way. No doubt wondering what his friend was doing just standing there silently and chewing on his thumbnail like a madman. He was still tense but gave a quick ‘sorry’ before saying he was just lost in thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy gave a semi awkward laugh and joked that it looked like he was trying to catch the wall he was staring at on fire just by staring at it. Wilbur gave a polite chuckle at the younger man’s attempt at mood lightening humor before sobering instantly and saying in a deadly serious tone that had the blond stiffening up anxiously,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t like this ‘Reader’ person you’ve been hanging out with Tommy. She seems really judgmental and arrogant. Not to mention her attitude. She’s argumentative and childish. She very clearly doesn’t care about you or L’manberg.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That last part hit Tommy right in the chest like the blow from a size 12 boot. How could Wibur say that? You did care! You did! You wouldn’t have-.. People who don’t care wouldn’t-.. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tommy’s hurt showed on his face, making Wilbur sigh in sympathy before clapping the younger boy on the shoulder and saying that it would be best for him to just focus on the L’manberg election. This Reader person was just serving as a distraction from Tommy’s job as vice president anyways. And Tommy didn’t want that, right? Wilbur had entrusted him to be his VP over everyone else. He couldn’t slack on that, right? Tommy just gave a mumbled ‘yeah, s’pose not’ but it was clear he didn’t have his heart in it, though that was all the affirmation Wilbur needed to think the conversation was over..</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You sat in the audience with Tubbo and Fundy for a bit while the candidates talked to each other up on the stage. Fundy seemed sweet, if not a bit mischievous. Though you supposed that should be expected from a fox hybrid. You smiled when his ears went back after you asked why his uniform was a lighter color than the others, unable to not think he looked adorable. But when he huffed, pretty obviously upset but trying not to show it, you frowned. And you pursed your lips when he explained that it was in ‘baby colors’ because Wilbur thought it would be cute for his ‘little champion’ to have a different uniform compared to everyone else.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You couldn’t help but awkwardly ask, “Aren’t you an adult though?” To which Fundy gave a slightly loud and exasperated, “YES!” that made you feel sorry for the poor hybrid. You gave him a reassuring look and said that well if he didn’t like the uniform then he didn’t have to wear it. Or if he liked it save for the color then just dye it darker to match the others. Fundy looked a bit put out and replied that he’d thought about dying it or just not wearing it but then his dad would be all depressed and hurt. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes and say that he shouldn’t set himself on fire to keep others warm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to do whatever your dad wants you to just because he’s your dad or cuz he’ll be sad. You’re an adult now Fundy. It’s time you make decisions for yourself in mind, not your dad.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Fundy started up at you with wide eyes, like he’d never heard anyone tell him that before. Which was worrying but you put it out of your mind before continuing,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Caring about others is important, yes. But you can’t let yourself be miserable just to avoid maybe making your dad sorta bummed out. That doesn’t seem fair to you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo chimed in from his spot to your left and said that the uniform was a symbol of their independence from the Dream Smp, they wore it to show they were loyal to L’manberg. He didn’t say it accusingly or even angrily, just in a factual matter-of-fact way. You said that might be true but then asked why Fundy’s uniform was different? Shouldn’t they all look the same if they supposedly stood for the same thing? If they’re meant to have a deeper meaning then they shouldn’t be altered for a joke. You said he had to see how that would make Fundy feel left out. You asked how Tubbo would feel if he were the only one with a different uniform and stood out. The brunet boy’s goatish ears drooped and he mumbled that he’d be sad. You ruffled his hair and turned back to Fundy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Look Fundy, if you wanna keep wearing the uniform as it is, that’s fine. If you wanna wear it but only after altering the color, that’s also fine. But if you wanna drop the uniform altogether then that’s fine too. It’s up to you, Fundy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Fundy looked contemplative, like he’d never thought he’d had a choice in the matter. But here he was with three whole options thanks to you. He honestly wasn’t sure which one he’d end up choosing, he had a lot to think about. But he gave you a grateful little smile and soft ‘thanks’ that made the corners of your lips quirk up. Though your chat soon came to an end when Fundy saw Niki approaching. He and Tubbo waved happily to her and gestured for her to come over. She stared up at you with mostly hidden surprise and said hello before Fundy introduced you both. Niki looked almost shy as she gave a short wave up to you. You chuckled and greeted her warmly and said you liked her uniform, pointing out hers was a different color than the others, like Fundy’s. She looked down at her blue version of the L’manberg uniform and flashed a grin and said,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I just liked the lighter blues better than the bright red and navy.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You brightened and gently tapped Fundy’s shoulder with the back of your hand and cheerfully pointed out that if Niki could choose to alter her uniform from the original she was given then he should be able to do the same no problem. His ears twitched happily and he grinned, showing off his canines and nodding. This led Niki to asking him what you meant and him explaining he wasn’t happy with how his uniform was dyed. She agreed with you, if he wasn’t happy then he should change the color. But she joked that he should avoid any bright greens… Fundy let out a bark of laughter before Niki gasped and pointed out they, as in she and Fundy, had to go get ready. Tubbo raised an eyebrow and asked if they were still planning on running in the election. Fundy sighed and said yes, like he’d been giving that same answer repeatedly. He probably had been, sadly.. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, you’re both running for president and vice president?” You asked good naturedly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Fundy nodded, waiting for you to give some kind of remark about him running, or how it was against his dad, or something else. But instead you just flashed him an encouraging smile and wished him and Niki good luck. You glanced at the fox hybrid and the blonde next to him before nodding and commenting that they both looked smart, with good heads on their shoulders. You thought they’d do just fine. Fundy’s tail was wagging from the genuine encouragement, making Niki giggle a little. The two did actually have to go get ready, so you and Tubbo said good luck and waved them off before chatting about this and that. The election speeches would be starting soon..</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was watching her again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t help it. He’d started watching her just to ensure she wasn’t going to pose a threat to the server, but the more he watched her the more he started to actually enjoy it. She was like him and Drista, maybe not exactly, but more than anyone else on the server. But at the same time she was so incredibly different. Seeing her interact with villagers and mobs and now players was intriguing. She was so much more powerful than all of them combined, but she had no trouble blending in like she was just another player. End sake, most of them even seemed to gravitate towards her!</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The only other time he’d seen a deity blend in so well with mortals was… Dream. But he tried not to think about that too much.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His currently invisible form phased through the building he’d been lurking beside, going up until he had a better view of the seats in the audience by the stage. He watched her and the small hybrid boy she’d endeared herself to bid a fox hybrid and blonde girl goodbye before taking their seats. He watched her sit and talk happily with the brown haired boy so easily. He wanted to learn to do that. It may be foolish but he wants to be like her. Happy, open, accepted, loved. He’s powerful, yes. He’s the most powerful being on this server without a doubt. But… it gets lonely. Sure Drista is around sometimes but she sleeps so often, preferring her dream world more than the waking one. And Dream… well that’s complicated. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His brother and him have a… tense relationship after the whole ‘falling from grace’ debacle that happened so long ago. Dream barely speaks to him anymore. Actually the last time they’d spoken face to face was after that silly little war Dream had been in not too long ago. He’d told him that he just wanted to sleep afterwards. At the time he didn’t bother to involve himself in the daily lives of the server’s players like Dream did so he wasn’t exactly sure of the intricacies of the whole ‘disagreement’ that led to the fighting. But according to Dream some players wanted to govern themselves because drugs? It all sounded utterly stupid to him so he just sort of didn’t absorb any of the details Dream was complaining about. To him it seemed like the more involved with the players Dream got the more stressed out and tired he became. Though he hadn’t spoken to Dream since their last talk when Dream had vented about all of this. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Perhaps I should visit my brother soon,’ the floating entity thought with a hum before he faded from the realm, drifting back to the End.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Some time had passed and during it you chatted with Tubbo casually, idly noting all the people who started to trickle into the seats around you. You recognized most in one way or another. Some more than others. Like you’d watched a good deal of the ‘main characters’ on the dsmp. And while you knew the names and skins of the lesser involved players you didn’t watch their videos much. Like Callahan, Punz, and Ponk. You knew the bare bones info about them. In fact most of what you knew was from clips and animatics you’d seen on youtube..</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You tuned back into the election, watched from the front row as the rally began. It looked like Quackity was going first, alone too it seemed since George was nowhere to be found. Apparently he was ‘too busy being gorgeous’ to bother showing up. You pursed your lips when you noticed Quackity was sounding a touch nervous at first. Which you could understand, speaking in front of a crowd was always tough. Especially if you’re not really used to it, which even then you’d heard that public speakers said they never truly got rid of the jitters going out in front of a crowd causes. So you sent some good vibes to Quackity, he may not be the one you necessarily want winning this election but.. well you don’t want him to embarrass himself either. But it turns out he.. didn’t do great but didn’t bomb either. It didn’t help that the others running were making little comments through his speech. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He spoke about caring about the people of L’manberg and how his endorsement was KSI, despite the fact KSI hadn’t replied back to him. Not a great start. Also Jesus Christ himself apparently. That had actually made you laugh a little. And you laughed louder when you heard the chime to signify you’d gotten a message, only in multiple around you. Turns out everyone had gotten a message from Dream on the main channel. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>&lt;Dream&gt; god endorses swag2020</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Quackity laughed, cheering loudly while Wilbur rolled his eyes and Tommy sighed. Then it was Pog2020’s turn to show off their endorsements. The first of which being Vikkstar it seemed. You couldn’t help but think it was so surreal to see these… well normal people from real life being canon characters in the Dream SMP universe… apparently. Well that seemed to make the crowd go wild in disbelief and amusement while Tommy pounded his fist on the podium triumphantly while Wilbur cheered. After that Wilbur shoved Tommy aside so he could speak into the podium and said he also brought in an endorsement. And then he introduced…. Schlatt. You wanted to facepalm so bad. You’d actually forgotten this part from the videos. It had totally slipped your mind that Wilbur was the reason Schlatt even knew about the damn election in the first place. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And to top it off the man was clearly drunk or at least hungover. He didn’t even seem to know where the hell he was. Idly you wondered when he got unbanned by Dream as you watched the messages from Schlatt roll through on the message system. It was mostly him asking where the fuck he was and if the ‘big fuckin’ wall’ he was next to was the Great Wall of China. You facepalmed and heard Tommy say he was going to go fetch him. Quackity was laughing and saying one of their endorsements was ‘some old man’, and you rolled your eyes because little duck boy was gonna be engaged to that ‘old man’ soon.. But you kept that tidbit to yourself. Though when Quackity called the ram hybrid ‘babe’ and he said to not call him that, making Quackity laugh you raised an eyebrow, figuring they were already together! Nonchalantly you wondered how much stuff you’d missed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then came the yelling.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Schlatt started rambling about how democracy was overrated and he didn’t ‘need a president’, how he’d be his own president. All while Tommy and Wilbur tried to talk over him and get him off the stage. Then he started shit talking Quackity, asking everyone if they really wanted HIM to be their president. Then he went on a tangent about how Quackity’s vice president ‘stole his woman’, which just caused everyone to laugh, even you. You have to admit, the man was funny if nothing else. Made you wish he wasn’t an alcoholic drug using abusive asshole. Blah Blah Wilbur stole his heart, blah blah Coconut 2020, etc that you were half listening to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>About then is when Tommy, still laughing at this whole debacle, glanced down and noticed you and Tubbo sitting in the front row. He gave a bright grin and waved to you both, to which you both smiled and waved back. This little interaction somehow managed to catch Schlatt’s attention, even through his booze addled ramblings. He just stopped mid sentence and stumbled over to Tommy and asked that the fuck he was even doing. Tommy gave an awkward laugh and said he was just waving hello to his friends. Schlatt gave him a ‘wtf’ look and scanned the crowd for who the blond boy was talking about. His horizontal oval pupils finally landed on Tubbo, making the boy give a slightly stiff wave to the older male. Schlatt stared at the boy for almost a full 20 seconds, making Tubbo sweat nervously. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You could almost tell yourself that you saw a flash of recognition in the goat hybrid’s eyes, but before you could blink it was gone and he was instead turning to look at you. Your eyebrows lowered as his gaze perked up and a grin you’re not above describing as ‘sleazy’ crossed his features. His eyes raked over your form, making you give him an unamused look. Schlatt leaned over to Tommy, missing how the teen sorta leaned away from him, and asked who ‘the baddie with the fat ass’ was. Tommy grimaced and replied saying for the other man to not say something so gross. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s Reader, don’t say nasty shit about her man!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Schlatt laughed and told the younger man to not be such a little bitch, he had to see how hot this woman was! The hair, the horns, the ASS! Before Schlatt could continue to make lewd comments about your person Quackity smacked him with a golden carrot and started cursing him out in Spanish. While the two argued Wilbur went up to the microphone and said that the ACTUAL people running were going to be going into the White House to have a little chat and they’d be right back. Then he and Tommy ran off, Quackity, Schaltt, Niki, and Fundy hot on their heels. Leaving the stage totally empty. Everyone in the audience gave each other side glances before looking up when you stood from your chair and headed to the podium. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo blinked in surprise before hopping up and following after you, calling your name and asking where you were going. You ruffled his hair and said you just wanted to say one thing to everyone in attendance. He hummed and followed after you, curious to see what you were up to. You knew the outcome of the election, sadly, and didn’t think there was any way to change it really. But you wanted to impart some wisdom onto the citizens of L’manburg really quick before all those dorks came back after finishing their nonsense. So you sat down on the stage, legs hanging over the side by the podium, and grabbed the mic and sighed before saying to the crowd down below,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen up everyone. I’m not part of the other campaigns or anything, but I wanted to just say something real quick to all of you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The crowd watched you with rapt attention, wondering who on the SMP you were. You started off with a light chuckle, saying you’d never been a public speaker so if you started rambling and not making a ton of sense then that was why. Then you took a breath and just said what was on your mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not here to endorse anyone or try to convince you to vote for this or that person. I just wanted to say that despite all the shenanigans going on today that this is actually supposed to be pretty serious. Goofing off aside, you all are going to be voting for the person in charge of your country. The person tasked with ensuring you are all safe and cared for. Being president is a big responsibility. One that shouldn’t be taken lightly.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You looked at each person in the crowd, lots you knew OF but didn’t know personally. But you made sure to tell them what you thought a president should be.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Being president shouldn’t be about having glory or power. It should be about working to make sure all your citizens are safe, happy, and above all; THRIVING. If the citizens are miserable or not being heard then the president has failed. So I want you all to think hard about who you want to vote into office. Who do you think will honestly care for your needs as a country? Who will defend you and ensure you’re all living your best lives?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The crowd seemed to be listening to you, none of them had interrupted you anyways. And Tubbo was smiling, having apparently thought you’d done a good job speaking. But you heard the sound of approaching voices and sighed again. You’ve been sighing a lot today, but that’s not really a surprise is it? Instead of dwelling on it you conclude your speech with a simple,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just keep in mind who you’re voting for, because you’re going to be stuck with them for the next few years.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then you placed the microphone back on the podium and grabbed Tubbo around the waist, and to the boy’s shock you jumped down from the roughly 8 block high stage. He let out an involuntary high pitched yelp of shock that was abruptly cut off when you both landed on the ground unharmed. He blinked then started laughing, which made you begin to snicker. He shoved your shoulder and called you a bastard for freaking him out. You just teased him for even thinking you’d let him get hurt. He changed the subject when everyone saw Schlatt coming over, though you could tell he was happy to hear you cared. But the moment was over once Schlatt stumbled into the audience, looking more than a little out of it. He hobbled over to the bed Tommy had put down for him before he’d gone on stage and collapsed down onto it, for some reason in mismatched armor and clutching carrots. You had no idea where he got any of that stuff because he’d shown up with nothing but the suit on his back you thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then Wilbur, Tommy, and Schlatt all came back from wherever they’d been while talking. And it didn’t look like they’d come to any peaceful resolution, though you’re not surprised. And you’re even further unsurprised when Quackity announced he was going to be pooling his votes with Schlatt. But that right now the debate was over and they just had to let the voting go on until the next day. So with that Wilbur ended the rally and bid everyone a pleasant rest of their day. And soon everyone had dispersed, leaving Tubbo and you waiting by the stairs that led up to the stage. Tommy walked down with Wilbur, the older of the two looking pensive. But as you all walked down the main path it seemed Wilbur was deep in thought. You watched him while Tommy and Tubbo chatted, but as the cobble path turned to wood the older brunet said he’d see them tomorrow and walked off to who knows where.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then Tubbo gave you and Tommy a secretive glance and said to follow him, which you both did without complaint. That’s when the brown haired boy started saying he’d been ‘hoping for the best but planning for the worst’. Tommy asked what he was going on about, ‘planning for the worst’?? So Tubbo explained that he’d made a little thing for if things went bad. That’s when you noticed he was leading you both far from the main area and towards the edge of the L’manberg territory by one of the border walls. And there hidden under the water thanks to some craft sign placement was a hidden entrance into a secret tunnel. All of which led to a bunker. Tommy was in disbelief at the sight, frantically asking his best friend when the hell he’d even had time to make this! Tubbo just gave a vaguely cryptic reply of, “I don’t sleep.” Which you scolded him for. You placed a hand on his head and rocked it back and forth a little roughly and said he was a growing boy who needed sleep! </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sleep is when your body grows! If you don’t sleep you’ll be short forever!” You huffed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That made Tommy burst out into borderline hysterical laughter while Tubbo shouted in outrage. You laughed a little and easily blocked the hits Tubbo was weakly trying to land on you. But once they both settled down Tubbo actually showed off the supplies, like potions and such, he’d prepared for Tommy and Wilbur should anything go sour. Tommy, still shocked but appreciative, thanked his friend and said they should go tell Wilbur. They asked if you wanted to come or if you’d like to sleep for the night. You just shrugged and said you weren’t really tired. But you told them THEY needed sleep however. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They groaned but you shushed them and made them go back to their place and sleep. They said they didn’t have a bed for you but you just pulled out a book and said you’d read by the fire until it was time to read the election results. They complained that they weren’t tired but you hushed them and said you could see how they were more sluggish compared to how they’d been that morning. And after some weak whining they eventually gave in and placed their beds down, took their armor off, and crawled under the blankets. Meanwhile you sat by the furnace, book in hand and hummed to yourself softly as you read. The two boys fell asleep faster than usual, chalking it up to the busy day they had. Not thinking to link it to feeling safe as they laid in bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-0-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It felt like barely an hour had passed before the sun was creeping up over the horizon. You’d finished going through the enchantment book forever ago, and it sat on your lap while you stared down at the fire in the furnace. You wondered when the election results would be read out and breathed in slowly, feeling tired but not physically. With nothing else to do you got busy making some breakfast. Just something simple, eggs with toast. But it worked to wake the two boys up, the smell of the fresh food rousing them to the land of the living. They practically devoured the breakfast before slipping their armor on and saying they should go now. It was a decent time to start the day. So they led you along to Wilbur, who had been in the midst of leaving his ball house. The two boys said they had something secret to tell him, and he actually hadn’t wanted to talk ‘government topics’ with you around. You rolled your eyes behind your mask but agreed to go wait by the stage until they were done.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So you sat alone in the audience, watching people slowly arrive as you did. Ponk was the first, his signature fire colored mask and lab coat(?) revealing who he was. Then right after was HBomb, dressed almost like a pirate for some reason? Or maybe he was a referee? He was in black and white stripes with a headband so you’re unsure, could go either way. And then Punz with his stylish white hoodie and gold chain. Then you saw Niki coming down to greet Eret. He was in full netherite and nobody gave her a second glance which sorta surprised you. They’d betrayed everyone hadn’t he? You admit you don’t know much about her. But they seem to be on good terms with Niki at any rate. Regardless he stood to the side, not really sitting with anyone. So maybe things weren’t as gucci as you thought. You were distracted from thinking about it as a man in a L’manberg uniform and headset arrived. Jack Manifold you think. Walking past him was George and Dream. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You narrowed your eyes at Dream, something about him felt off? Which was weird considering you’d never met the man in person before so you’re not sure how you could tell if he was ‘off’ or not. But something about him was just… weird. Maybe it was the hood and mask obscuring his entire upper body save for some dirty blond hair poking out from said hood. Or maybe how his body moved fluidly like a person but… it also didn’t seem to be in the right proportions. His arms and legs felt a teeny bit too long while his torso seemed shorter than it should be. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Maybe it’s the cut of the hood and pants making it look that way..’ you thought to yourself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wilbur speaking suddenly caught your attention, and when you looked up at the stage you saw all the candidates standing there while Tubbo was hurrying over to the seat you’d saved for him next to you. Seemed they were starting now. The little goat hybrid gave you a nervous smile before focusing on the results. Wilbur started reading but paused to ask Tommy why he was standing with his own mic, and then said he should be standing behind him. You watched them bicker a second before Wilbur gave in and let Tommy stand with his own mic. You smiled and shook your head fondly when Tommy gave a silent cheer for himself ‘winning’ that one. Once that was done Wilbur began explaining what was going to happen. They weren’t just reading off the results, they were also going to be inaugurating the winner as president. And then explained how the new president would make a decree and how the first decree was very important.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“My fellow L’manbergians, and by that I mean Ponk, HBomb, and Tubbo. And the others in the crowd as well, including Tommy’s tall friend…” he said while gesturing to you. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tubbo loudly cheered for Wilbur, making Tommy and Quackity laugh. You giggled a little at his antics but mostly kept silent to hear. Wilbur announced he had the election results in his hands, then held up an envelope and continued by reading off the four competing parties: POG2020, SWAG2020, COCONUT2020, and SCHLATT2020. And there had been a total of 220,000 votes. This of course confused everyone and Quackity pointed out there were barely 10 people in the audience, so how had so many votes been cast. Wilbur let out a tired sigh and elaborated, saying he’d accidentally opened the vote… to all the other servers when he’d broadcasted the election live…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone started kicking up a fuss, some upset strangers from other servers were weighing in on a server they weren’t even a part of while others found this all hysterically hilarious. Wilbur settled the crowd down and explained there’d been some voter fraud as well, but he’d gotten rid of all the votes that had come from the same communicator protocol. But then he pointed out that all the fraud votes were only voting for one party.. then stared directly at Fundy and Niki. They glanced away from everyone else and Quackity said through laughter that they should be disqualified. Tommy agreed and said there was only one coder in the Coconut2020 party.. But Wilbur sighed when Fundy was silent before saying diplomatically that they should count all the votes regardless of their CP address… Everyone started laughing until Wilbur shushed them and started actually reading off the results, finally.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“In last place is Coconut2020 with 5%,” Fundy and Niki cheered for the votes they did get. Tommy gave them a slightly sarcastic congratulations while Quackity cackled. Then Wilbur continued,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then in second to last place with 9% is Schlatt2020…” That was actually surprising to everyone since Schlatt was a very charismatic guy on most fronts and usually never had issues with luring people to his side.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The current president turned to look at Quackity and George then glanced at Tommy and said that the two final running parties were Pog2020 and Swag2020, and coming in third place was…. Swag2020 with 22%. And Pog2020 with 31%. Tommy’s eyes went wide and he practically screamed his joy, nearly tripping backwards in his excitement. He rushed up to Wilbur and demanded to know if they’d won, and when Wilbur said they did Tommy missed the rest of the statement telling him to wait. The blond boy was too thrilled to stop and listen and without thinking he yelled down to you,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“MUM I WON THE ELECTION! WE WON!!” practically bouncing off the stage. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You gave him a grin, mentally cooing over him calling you mom and not even noticing but inside your stomach was churning as you waited for the other boot to drop.. And after Wilbur calmed Tommy he made clear that Quackity and Schlatt had made a deal to pool their votes. Meaning together they had 31% as well. Meaning it’s a tie. This caused an uproar between the parties, everyone seemingly arguing while you puzzled over it being a tie! That hadn’t happened originally… But it was Niki who quieted everyone and pointed out something rather jarring…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“All four of our votes only equal up to be 67%... there’s a chunk of votes missing!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone was silent before George barked out a ‘what the hell?!’ that made everyone start arguing again. Schlatt was insisting that Wilbur counted them wrong while Quackity demanded they be recounted. Meanwhile Wilbur adamantly said he’d counted right and they were wrong. It took Tommy snatching the slip of paper out of his hand that had the election results typed out on them to get Wilbur to stop shouting. As Tommy read the list of results he mentally counted up the percentages and frowned before saying Niki was right, that was only like 67%! But then Fundy chimed in and asked what was written on the back. Confused Tommy turned the paper over and his eyes went wide. He was in shock and spoke in a normal tone, which just got drowned out by everyone. Seeing he was being ignored he shouted,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“OI! DICKHEADS! You missed the ‘other’ section of the votes!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That grabbed Wilbur’s attention easily, he’d forgotten all about the ‘other’ voting option. And hadn’t even known anything was written on the back of the slip of paper. He ripped it out of Tommy’s grasp and rushed to read the back, his voice getting more subdued as he spoke…</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“With the most votes at 33% is…. Reader..”</span>
</p>
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